Yugi's Twin Sister
by Nyx'sBlackRose
Summary: Inspired by Cosmic Kiss's famous story Jaden's Twin Sister. Join Tori as she follows her brother, Yugi, as he duels his way to the title of King of Games.
1. Puzzle Of The Gods

Hey, guys! It's me, with another new story. I know I said I'd wait till my main story is done, but I wanted to do something for my birthday, which is today; I am officially 16 years old! *cheers* But on to the semi-serious stuff; I was inspired to write this because of Cosmic Kiss's Jaden's Twin Sister. I hope my story will have as much support as hers does.

Thorn: Somehow, I doubt it.

Oh, and before I forget, this pessimist is Thorn; consider her my own sadistic little Yami, okay?

Thorn: *bows and smirks*

Now, on to the story! Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! no matter how hard I wish for it.

* * *

Chapter 1: The Puzzle of the Gods

_They say that behind every great man or boy, there's an even greater woman or girl; I can attest to that, since my twin wouldn't have made it as far as he has if I hadn't helped him here and there; Oh, I'm sorry, I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Tori, Tori Muto; before you ask, yes, the great Yugi Muto is my twin brother. It's not easy being a sibling of a famous duelist like Yugi; our younger sister Cali and I tend to get overlooked because of it. But I'm not here to go on about that; I'm here to tell a story. The story of how my brother, the famous Yugi Muto, the King of Games, became a dueling legend._

* * *

_Recess time at Domino High; so much fun.*coughsarcasmcough*_ While the rest of the class headed out the door to play basketball outside, Yugi and I sat at our desks with our games, just like we did every day.

"Hey, Yugi, Tori! Quit playing games by yourselves and come play basketball for once," One of our classmates called, pausing at the classroom doorway. Yugi and I looked up from our latest game, Bluebeard's Attack, just as Yugi found the right switch and sent the little plastic pirate flying from his hiding spot. We shook our heads.

"That's okay," Yugi said.

"Our team would just lose. . ." I added, gently twisting the thin gold chain that my small, gold-colored disk-shaped puzzle pendant dangled from. Our classmate shrugged, then left the room, leaving just Yugi and I there. We sighed together, then began packing up the game on our desks.

"I wish we could play our kind of games with someone," Yugi said, putting the game back in its box.

I nodded my agreement. "Yeah, that would be fun. Cali plays with us every now and then, but it's not the same. We always bring a lot in our bags, but. . ." I trailed off as I stuffed the game back into my black and red backpack, catching sight of my little golden pendant and triggering a thought.

"I know! We can try to finish that today!" I said to Yugi, who brightened and reached into his own backpack.

"The puzzle I always carry around! Great idea, sis!" he said, making me smile. _He never failed to cheer me up when he did that. _Yugi pulled out a box with hieroglyphics etched into the sides and an Eye of Horus on the front, and placed it on the desk; my pendant actually looked a bit like it: on the front, there was an Eye of Horus, and on the back was a small set of hieroglyphics. My brother's greatest treasure lay inside that box; whenever anyone asked him what was in the box, he always answered with the same riddle:

"It's something that you see, but have never seen before!"

Sadly, no one in class has ever gotten the meaning of the riddle but me; oh well, I suppose they'll get it one day. While I was thinking over the riddle and playing with my pendant, Yugi spaced, which resulted in the school's own future Laurel and Hardy team, aka our personal tormentors, sneaking up on us and snatching my brother's puzzle, and somehow managing to undo the clasp on my necklace, pocketing it as well.

"_Hey_!" I cried, glaring up at the two jerks standing beside our desks.

"'Something you have seen, but have never seen before'? 'Your greatest treasure'? You win the prize for nuts, Yugi!" Tristan Taylor, a guy with spiky brown hair, taunted with a smirk. _If I were a little taller, I _swear_ I'd wipe that smirk right off his face with a few well-placed fists._

"Give them back, Tristan!" Yugi cried, leaping up from his desk and running after the taller teen, who'd moved towards the door of the classroom.

"Joey, pass!" Tristan called, tossing the box and necklace to his blonde-haired friend, Joey Wheeler, the second member of the goon squad.

"Hey, be careful with them!" I snapped, standing up and joining my brother as Joey tossed the box and necklace into the air.

"Jeez, only girls would care so much about a box and a necklace." Joey snorted, leaning against the wall. "Watching you two makes me sick; it really pisses me off! So, y'know, Yugi, Tori. . ." Joey caught the box and necklace easily in his hands and turned to us, "I'm gonna teach you guys how to be tough!"

He smacked his chest with his right hand as he lifted his left-with Yugi's box and my necklace on it-high into the air.

"You two want these back? Then gimmie all you got!" He ordered.

"We hate fighting!" Yugi and I protested loudly.

Joey rubbed his ears and winced. "Ow! Shut up; you two have no guts." He grumbled.

"Anyway, please give them back," Yugi pleaded.

"No way!" Tristan snorted.

"What's in this thing anyway?" Joey asked, looking at the box with curiosity. "I'll take a peek."

Yugi and I paled. "You can look, but don't lose anything! That's really important to me!" Yugi said as we tried not to freak out.

Joey opened the lid of Yugi's box. He snorted and closed the lid with a bored expression on his face. "How dumb. Here, Tristan." He tossed the box and necklace to the brunette when a hand appeared in front of Tristan and quickly caught the airborne box and necklace.

"If you think they're dumb, give them back to Yugi and Tori!" A girl with short brown hair snapped at the guys. _This is Tea Gardner; she's been one of our best friends since elementary school. She's a little pushy sometimes, but she's really nice; oh, and never tell him I told you any of this, but I think my big brother has a crush on her._

"Tea! Nice catch!" Yugi said, smiling widely at her.

"Excellent timing, as usual," I greeted her with a nod and smile.

"Joseph, Tristan! What have I told you about picking on other kids?" A voice called from the doorway. We turned to look as Joey and Tristan paled.

"C-Cali! Hey! We were just thinking about going to get you for a two-on-one soccer game!" Tristan said, trying to smile at the dark-haired girl. _This is mine and Yugi's younger sister, Cali. She's a year younger than us, and she's friends with Joey and Tristan. Surprising given the fact that they love picking on us, huh? Actually, Cali's the only one who can control those two morons sometimes._

"Bullies who pick on little kids is what's dumb, boys. Now, get out of here; I'll meet you two down at the field in a few minutes, got it?" Cali ordered. The guys scowled at her, but quickly high-tailed it out the classroom door. As soon as they were out of sight, Cali turned to us.

"Sorry, guys. I could've sworn that they were down at the field where I left them." She smiled apologetically at us.

"It's okay, Cal. Thanks for the save." I answered for both of us. Yugi nodded.

"No prob; I better go find those apes before they run into bigger trouble. Laters, guys!" Cali called as she ran out the door, leaving Tea, Yugi, and I alone.

"Here you go. They're special, right?" Tea handed us back our stuff and sat down at the desks as Yugi put the box down and I fastened my necklace back around my neck.

"Thank you, Tea." I said, briefly holding my pendant in my hand, then releasing it.

"Tea, one word from you and Cali and they ran away!" Yugi said, looking at the door in disbelief.

"Their heads swell if you don't knock them down once in a while like Cali does. You guys need to get tougher." Tea answered with a shrug.

"Just like the rest of the guys at this school," I agreed with a nod before glancing at my brother sheepishly. "Well, present company excluded." I added.

"By the way, guys," Tea spoke up, catching our attention. "What _are_ those?"

"That's right, you haven't seen them yet, Tea." Yugi said. He and I paused for a second and exchanged a look, then nodded and turned back to Tea; Cali calls moves like that our 'twinstincts', since we seem to think and act alike most of the time.

"If you promise to keep them secrets, we'll show you." I said.

Tea nodded. "Okay." Yugi opened the lid to his box as I undid my necklace's clasp and set it down on the desk next to the box, which turned out to be full of gold-colored puzzle pieces.

"Wow, they're pretty!" Tea admired them, picking up a few of the puzzle pieces in one hand and gingerly picking up my necklace in the other.

"Sparkling gold," she murmured to herself as she examined them. "Are these pieces of something? All broken up. . ."

"It's a puzzle!" Yugi proclaimed, picking up a set of pieces and holding them up. "I've never finished mine, so I don't know what it looks like. . ." he trailed off, pouting slightly at me. I giggled a little at his face; _my brother has a to-die-for puppy dog face, and he knows how to use it. He gets a little mad at me because, out of the both of us, I finished my puzzle first. I liked it so much when it was completed that I put it on a gold chain; yep, you guessed it: my pendant is my puzzle, too! Cool, huh?_

"So it's 'something you see, but have never seen before," I added. Yugi began fiddling with a few puzzle pieces as he spoke up again.

"Our family runs a game store, right? We sell unusual games from around the world. Years ago, we found these two way back on a shelf covered with dust. So we took them for ourselves." He looked up, and we smiled at each other.

"These puzzles are mementos of our Grandpa, so we love them even more," I added, taking my necklace back and fastening it back around my neck.

Tea's face softened as she listened to us, then became curious again. I wonder what she was thinking about.

"They say the puzzles were found in an Egyptian ruin," Yugi said, looking down at the box.

"Egypt, huh?" Tea asked with interest. We nodded together.

"See, there's hieroglyphics carved around the box." Yugi pointed out the pictures, which I had always thought were a cool way to record things in ancient times; don't tell anyone, but whenever Yugi and I want to speak to each other during class, we always pass notes written in basic hieroglyphs so the notes can't be read out loud if we get caught. Not a bad idea, huh?

"I bet they say something like this. . .'Whoever solves this puzzle shall be granted one wish. . .' You know what I mean? Like the Dragon Balls," Yugi said with a smile. I fingered my pendant and turned it around to reveal the mini-glyphs on its other side.

"And mine probably say, 'When this puzzle is solved, you may be granted a wish for being clever enough to solve it," I added with a slight smile.

Tea smiled at us cheerfully, like she always did. "You're the only one we've told Tea; don't tell on us, okay?" Yugi asked.

"Yeah, this is a secret," I agreed.

Tea nodded. "I get it, guys! Trust me!" Yugi's mood darkened slightly and he rested his face in his palm for a second as he frowned.

"But this puzzle is major hard. . .I've been working on it for eight years and I've never solved it! It's kind of depressing." He sighed, pouting slightly at me. _Sadly, that last little bit of information was no exaggeration; Yugi and I found our puzzles when we were eight years old, but while I'd solved my little pendant puzzle within a year and a half, Yugi hadn't come close to putting his together even halfway, even though Cal and I had tried to help; even Grandpa couldn't put the thing together._

"Don't give up, Yugi! Your heart is in it!" Tea encouraged him.

"Yeah, bro, you can't give up just because of one little problem," I agreed.

My big brother cheered up almost instantly, a wide smile spreading across his face. "Yup, I'll do my best!"

Tea paused for a second, then smiled mischievously at us. ". . .So, what are they? Your wishes?" she asked.

We laughed together and shook our heads. "No way! That is absolutely, positively secret!"

* * *

(Cali's P.O.V.)

I walked down the hall with Joey and Tristan in tow, letting the poor boys cool off from my bullying lecture; don't get me wrong, I love those two pains below the belt like they were my own other big brothers, but sometimes they try to get away with things that I don't like them doing, and I like letting that happen even less.

"Cal, you make me mad sometimes," Joey grumbled, walking up beside me with a scowl. I ignored him for a minute.

"Seriously, who's a bully?" Joey asked me.

"Uh, Joey, that was us a few years ago," Tristan unhelpfully pointed out. I turned and glared at them, smiling inwardly as they paled slightly. Unfortunately, we were so absorbed in our own little world that we weren't looking where we were going and bumped into someone.

"What the-"I started to say-or curse, depending on how you look at it-as we collided with somebody. When we pulled back to see who had been stupid enough to get in our way, all three of us lost the color in our faces; the guy turned out to be Ushio, a big-as-hell hall monitor that had even the teachers and principal too scared of his height and demeanor to do anything about his scams.

Tristan and I backed up slightly, dragging Joey with us by his jacket collar. I silently prayed that Joey would keep his big fat mouth shut for one single time in his life.

"Nothing! Keep out of this, you-"Joey started to say. _Why can't I catch a break every now and then?_

Tristan and I quickly clamped our hands over Joey's mouth and shut him up before he'd inevitably say something that we'd all regret later.

"It's nothing, absolutely nothing at all. . ." Tristan said with a phony smile on his face. I nodded my agreement, a just as fake smile on my own face and one of my heels dug into Joey's foot for good measure.

The thug turned around and began walking away, but turned his head to give us a parting shot and glare. "Picking on people is bad," he warned us coolly.

I nodded furiously. "Yes, that is so true!" Tristan and I tightened our grips on Joey's mouth as said moron tried to speak.

I gave Joey my best I-will-kill-you-if-you-_ever_-do-that-again look and used my special telepathy to send him a message.

"_Joseph! Who the _hell_ do you think you're picking a fight with? That's that ogre of a hall monitor, Ushio! He makes all the rules at school! Even the teachers and principal are too scared of him to say anything!"_

Once the hallway was clear, Tristan and I let go of Joey, who had almost choked thanks to our deathgrips on his mouth. Tristan looked around quickly.

"Is he gone? He's gone. . ." He sighed to himself, relaxing a little.

Joey gulped in air, then proceeded to cuss us out with said air supply. "You jerks, I couldn't breathe!" he growled at us.

Tristan leaned against the wall briefly to refill his lungs, too. "Man, that was close." He gasped, placing a hand on his chest in relief.

"Ushio! I'm gonna get you someday!" Joey shouted, shaking his fist at the hall Ushio had disappeared down. Meanwhile, Tristan had recovered and joined us again. I sighed in boredom and lightly kicked one of the walls of the hall.

"Man, life is so dull!" I groaned in complaint.

"Oh? I've got something interesting. . ." Joey said, catching mine and Tristan's attention.

"Yeah? What?" I asked for the both of us.

Joey reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of small, gold-colored items. I paused for a second before I recognized them. They were pieces of Yugi and Tori's puzzles! A stab of horror hit me as I thought about what would happen when my sibs noticed pieces of their precious puzzles were missing; they would be so distraught, and they'd be disappointed in me if they knew I knew what had happened to the pieces.

"If they're missing pieces, they can't solve their puzzles!" Joey chuckled.

"Nice, Jo!" Tristan chuckled. _That's it, I can't take it anymore._

"Joseph, gimmie those! You know they belong to my sibs," I growled at the blonde. He shook his head and held the pieces over my head, making me try to jump for them. Curse my shortness! Tori and I are a few inches taller than Yugi, but we're all still much shorter than Joseph the wonder boy here.

While I was jumping, Joey took a baseball pitcher's pose and threw the pieces out the nearest open window.

"No!" I gasped in horror. I ran to the window and searched the grounds for a sign of the puzzle pieces. When I looked into the school pool, I felt my blood freeze as I caught a glimpse of gold in the deep end. I whirled around angrily as my blood became twice as hot as before.

"Joey, that's it! I don't care what you say, I'm not coming anywhere near either of you jerks until those puzzle pieces are returned to their owners; namely, my older siblings!" I shouted at them, then spun on my heel and walked away, ignoring their calls of protest and placation. But the thing that none of us saw was the two puzzle pieces' faint golden glows as they sank to the bottom of the pool.

* * *

(Tori's P.O.V)

_Ah, the end of the school day; I live for this time of day!_ I hummed cheerfully as Yugi and I walked out of the building toward the gates that everyone else was already rushing through in a hurry to get home and relax.

"Okay, let's get home and finish that puzzle." Yugi said to me as we walked through the gates. I nodded my agreement; but before we had stepped a foot past the gates, a voice stopped us.

"You're Yugi and Tori, aren't you?" It asked. We turned to look at the speaker, and were slightly alarmed when we saw a Hulk of a teen leaning against one of the gateposts.

"I'm Ushio, the hall monitor." He greeted us. "I want to ask you two something. Are you being bullied by certain students in your class?" Yugi and I knew what he was talking about, but honestly, we didn't really care. Point A, bullying had been a way of life for the two of us growing up; we were used to it, and had become thick-skinned as a result. These days, it took a lot to get us upset. And Point 2, if we were being honest with ourselves and each other, we considered Joey and Tristan our friends deep down, no matter how much they annoyed the hell out of us. So, we played dumb.

"Wha? Nothing like that ever happens to us," Yugi said, looking confused.

"Who, us? You must be thinking of some other kids," I agreed. We made moves to go on, but ogre-man's voice stopped us again.

"Hold on! Victims often defend their attackers. I've been investigating!" He straightened up and got closer to us, then clapped our backs so hard that we almost fell over from their force.

"You two can stop worrying. I'll be your bodyguard from now on!" He smiled at us, but I could tell he was hiding something. Yugi and I exchanged glances, then stepped away from Ushio and toward the sidewalk.

"There's really nothing going on, so. . ." Yugi said, trailing off as we turned down the street.

"So we don't need your services. Thanks for the offer, though." I finished over my shoulder. When we were a good number of blocks away, I turned toward Yugi.

"What the heck was that all about?" I asked. He shrugged.

"That guy's weird, though," he added. We laughed a little at that statement, then moved on to different topics as we continued home.

* * *

We brightened as we came to the doorstep of the family game shop; we lived above the store, which was called the Kame Game Store, and was run by our grandfather, Solomon, who raised the two of us and Cali since we were little. Sometimes he was as wise as his namesake, but he could be goofy every now and then as well.

"We're home!" we called together as we started to enter the shop.

"Yugi, Tori!" A voice called. We turned, and smiled together as we saw who the voice belonged to.

"Tea, hey!" Yugi greeted her with an even wider smile. _I know he likes her; though knowing him, he'll never admit it._

"Hey, Tea. What's up?" I greeted her.

"I thought I'd come over to play," she replied cheerfully.

"Welcome back, you two! Cali got here a little earlier than you did." Grandpa greeted us with a smile. _Cali got here before us? Impossible; she usually hangs out with Joey and Tristan until dinnertime. I wonder what happened. . ._I was brought back to reality as Tea said to us, "Guys, you said your puzzles were mementos of your grandfather!"

"We meant they were going to be mementos," Yugi explained helpfully while Grandpa put up a fuss about his age. I smiled at the sight. _Same old Grandpa!_ We turned towards the stairs and began walking over to them.

"Tea, let's work on puzzles in my room," Yugi called to her.

"Just soda for us, Grandpa," I added over my shoulder. Tea nodded and followed hesitantly.

"You haven't given up on that puzzle yet, Yugi?" Grandpa asked in amusement.

Yugi sweatdropped. "Who'd give up?" he grumbled quietly. I patted my brother's shoulder sympathetically as a slightly wicked grin spread across Grandpa's face.

"The Millennium Puzzle and Millennium Disk are beyond human understanding! That puzzle is too hard for you, Yugi; it's a miracle that Tori finished hers. And they have all sorts of unsavory rumors attached to them," Grandpa warned us. I rolled my eyes slightly_; we'd been hearing variations of this talk for eight years now, ever since we decided to take the Puzzle and Disk from the store's shelves. _Beside us, Tea paled a little and eyed Grandpa warily.

"Rumors. . .?" she asked slowly.

Grandpa nodded. "The Millennium Puzzle and Disk were discovered at the beginning of the 20th century. A team of British archaeologists took them out of a tomb of a sibling Pharaoh and Princess's crypt in the Valley of the Kings. However, afterward all those in the team died mysterious deaths. . ." Grandpa paused and glared at us menacingly at us.

"And the last ones said with their dying breaths. . .'the Shadow Games'. . ." He finished, looking pleased with himself. I have to admit, Grandpa always was a great storyteller; he could create a story so realistic, you'd imagine the events really happened however long ago the story took place. Tea stepped away from us slightly, giving the Puzzle and Disk a wide-eyed look.

"Guys, those things are dangerous," she said nervously.

"What are 'Shadow Games'? They sound cool!" Yugi said, looking at his puzzle box with interest. I twisted my Disk's chain with a smile on my face.

"I like the sound of those 'Shadow Games'. . ." I agreed, staring down at my Disk. Grandpa took the box from Yugi and held it so we could see the front side's hieroglyphics. He lightly tapped the writing with a finger.

"They say the hieroglyphs carved into the box say this," he told us. "'The one who solves me shall gain the powers and knowledge of Darkness. . ." I listened with interest. _I wonder what mine translate into?_

Yugi's eyes lit up in excitement. "It does grant your wish! Now I'm really fired up; I'll finish it no matter what!" he exclaimed. I smiled at him; _that's my big brother. _He and Tea went up to his room while I lingered on the stairs to talk to Grandpa.

"Grandpa," I said, turning to him. I unclasped my necklace and handed it to him. "What does mine say?" Grandpa studied the hieroglyphs for a minute, then answered.

"These say, 'The one who solves this puzzle will be granted the powers and knowledge of Light to counter the powers of Darkness and bring balance to the world of Shadows.'" I frowned thoughtfully as I took back my necklace and put it on.

_Does that mean that it would counteract the powers of Yugi's Puzzle? _I wondered as I walked up the stairs and into Yugi's room.

It was really more of a playroom than a bedroom with all of the toys strewn around it; Tea, Yugi, and I talked, played games, and solved plain puzzles for a few hours before Tea had to leave for dinner. Yugi and I went downstairs to eat with Grandpa, then came back up and worked on the Puzzle for a bit.

When 9:00 came, I said goodnight and went to my room next door to get some sleep. I love my room; it has a wooden floor half covered with mini red, white, and gold rugs, a window decorated with a fire colored window seat and white pillows, and has gold colored curtains with red designs embroidered on them. The walls are painted a light orange color and half plastered with anime and music posters, and my bed is white wood and covered with fire colored blankets and gold pillows. What? So I like warm colors; so sue me.

But what I like best about my room is the dozens of books inside it; I have books everywhere: on the walls, on my desk, in bookcases, in various piles on the floor. Grandpa says I have enough books to add a bookstore on to the game shop, which isn't a bad idea. I changed from my school uniform into a deep red tank top and white and gold-striped pajama pants, then crawled under my blankets and turned out my little red desk light. As I fell asleep, I missed seeing the small disk pendant around my neck glow a soft gold.

* * *

_I tossed and turned in my sleep all night; the setting of my dream unsettling: I was running through a dark stone building, terror rushing through me as I ran, trying to get away as fast as I could. As I turned to look behind me every now and then, I saw the same thing, a stone-like creature with wings and a snake-like tail covered in shadows pursuing me. Every time I saw that creature, I felt the terror in me grow and urged myself to run even faster than before. _

_I exited the building quickly and came to a similar stone hall, where I stumbled over something and fell to my knees. As the creature gained on me, I gripped my pendant tightly, praying for someone, anyone, to save me. The creature caught up quickly, and was soon hovering only a few feet away from me and getting even closer by the second. I looked away as it loomed over me. But before it could attack me, a shining white light pierced my vision and forced me to cover my eyes, and a dragon's roar sounded in my ears. _

_I opened my eyes and stared in wonder at the sight before me: a beautiful white dragon hovered in the air in front of me, the stone creature melting into nothing at its roar. The dragon half-turned to look at me, and I hesitantly reached up to touch its scales as I looked into its deep blue eyes. It nodded slightly to me as it disappeared into the air. A person appeared to my right and held out a hand to me; taking it, I stood and looked at the owner of the hand and, presumably, the white dragon. It was a man, and the only thing I could see of him was his amazingly deep blue eyes, almost an exact match to the white dragon's._

"_Are you alright, my Princess?" he asked me softly, his voice deep and his words gentle._

* * *

I woke up with a soft gasp, my heart going a mile a minute. I shook my head to clear it, reminding myself that it was just a dream. As I got dressed, I wondered about my dream; it had felt so real that I could still see the white dragon's glow when I closed my eyes.

I dismissed my dream as I went down to eat breakfast; when we were done, Yugi, Cali, and I said our goodbyes to Grandpa and walked to school together, discussing dozens of different topics on the way. I daydreamed about the dragon during my classes, even going as far as sketching it during math class; as I stared at the drawing, I felt like I had seen the dragon somewhere before my dream. The day passed quickly for me and soon recess came again. As the class filed out the door to play basketball outside as usual, Yugi and I pulled out one of our games and began to play.

Yugi yawned often; when I looked at him curiously, he explained, "I stayed up late working on the Puzzle."

I nodded, "Just try not to stay up as late tonight, okay? We've got a few tests tomorrow." He nodded in agreement, and we started playing again. After a few rounds, we heard a voice at the doorway. We turned to look, and Ushio, the guy from yesterday, was standing there.

"Could I have a moment?" he asked us. We exchanged a puzzled look, then followed him out the door; eventually, we wound up behind the school.

"Ushio, what do you want to show us?" Yugi asked for the both of us.

He smirked at us. "Just come with me. I know you two'll like it. . ." he replied. As we turned the final corner, a horrible sight came into view: Joey, Tristan, and Cali lying in a collective heap on the ground, all beaten to a bloody pulp.

"It hurts. . ." Tristan groaned under his breath.

"Joey! Tristan! Cali!" we cried together in horror. "What in the world?"

"I told you guys, I'm your bodyguard! I decided to teach these bullies a lesson," he explained to us. "One they wouldn't forget!"

"Ushio, this is way too much!" I protested as we hurried to their sides.

"Joey, are you okay?" Yugi asked worriedly.

"Tristan? Cali? Speak to us!" I added. Joey glared at us.

"Yugi, Tori. . .you jerks. Are you happy now. . .?" he managed to growl.

"That's not true! Do you really think we'd ask him to do this?" we demanded together. Cali managed to grab his shoulder.

"Don't, Jo. They didn't do anything. . ." she gasped slightly in between her words. Ushio came up behind us and pushed us to the ground.

"Move it, you two. I'm not finished punishing them!" Ushio said, walking up to the three of them and starting to beat the crap out of them. Yugi and I exchanged another brief look and then rushed to step in front of them.

"Stop!" we ordered together. Ushio raised an eyebrow at us.

"Are you two protecting them? You're a couple of strange ones. This is your chance to get them back for everything!" he said.

"We can't do that to our friends!" we protested. Behind us, Joey and Tristan's eyes widened slightly and Cali smiled at our backs.

"You're a couple of real winners. You call them your friends?" Ushio laughed at us. "Are you serious? These are the guys that pick on you every day!"

"They weren't picking on us," I protested.

"They were teaching us how to be tough. . ." Yugi added.

"Whatever. . .but remember, you two still have to pay what you owe!" he said, smirking. _Funny; he never mentioned anything like this yesterday. _"Bodyguard charges. . .200,000 Yen!"

"What? We don't have that kind of money!" we protested.

"For 200,000 Yen you two can hit these three all you want. You can take out your daily troubles on them. I think it's a good deal. . ." he suggested. We kept our mouths shut, looking at each other out of the corners of our eyes. Neither of us wanted to do something as cruel as Ushio was suggesting, but we knew he wouldn't just walk away and forget about all of us if we declined his offer.

"Don't touch these three anymore!" I commanded, balling my hands up into fists.

"If you're going to hurt someone, hurt us!" Yugi added fiercely.

"You two are beyond strange, you're crazy. . ." he muttered, looking at us. He shrugged. "All right, if you want it that way. . ." He stepped up to us and grabbed the fronts of our shirts, lifting us into the air.

"I'll show you what'll happen if you don't pay up! Normally I hate picking on people. . .but this isn't 'bullying', this is 'warning'!" He lightly tossed us into the air, the hammered us as we came back down. Pain exploded through me in dozens of different places, and I could already feel a few bruises and knots beginning to form.

_Alright, I'll level with you guys. Yugi and I swore to never tell anyone else the wishes we made on the Puzzle and Disk when we got them, but I know you guys will keep them safe. They were the same wish, really, "I wish for friends." Friends we could count on. Friends who could count on us, no matter what. Are you all really that surprised? Sure, we had Tea and Cali as friends, but we'd known Tea since preschool, and Cali was our little sister; we loved both of them, but it wouldn't hurt to have other friends besides them. Our little beating is where the 'friends who could count on us, no matter what' came in. _

Ushio gave us a final kick to the stomach each and let us fall to the ground. I could feel a bruise starting to form on every single part of my body; I swear that even my hair and fingernails were hurting.

"Well, I'll leave it at this. Bring the money tomorrow! Got it? 200,000 Yen!" he said to us, turning to leave.

"Break your promise and that won't be all you get," he warned, pulling something sharp out of his jacket pocket. "I'll teach you two even more pain with this!" He held up a knife, then put it back in his pocket and laughed as he walked away.

_That creep Ushio. . .he's the worst of the worst!_ I thought angrily.

_But there's nothing we can do,_ Yugi thought, cooling me down. _He's so big and powerful. . .we couldn't touch him in a hundred years._

_Is giving him the money all we can do. . .?_ I asked Yugi and myself was we got up. We went to help Cali and the guys, but they were too stubborn and did it themselves. We hobbled to the nurse's office for first aid, then went back to class. We thought our problem over countless times during our classes, but as the bell rang we still had no idea what to do. We went home, discouraged.

* * *

As we entered the shop, Grandpa greeted us as usual, then put up a big fuss when he was our injuries; Yugi had big bruises all over his face, Cali had a nasty-looking cut from her temple to her cheekbone, and I was sporting one big as hell black eye. After we assured him that we felt fine, he let us go upstairs; Cali went to her room and stayed there, and Yugi went to his room. I joined him after I grabbed a few books and my miniature bank from my room.

We counted up all the money we'd saved up; sadly, the combined total only came to 3,312 Yen, much less than Ushio was demanding. After we finished counting our money, I sat on the bed reading while Yugi sat at his desk working on the Puzzle and muttering to himself while he worked; reading was my way of relieving stress, Yugi's was working on puzzles. I looked up every so often as Yugi worked; it looked like the stress was doing him good because he fitted more puzzle pieces into place than I'd ever seen him fit when he worked on the Puzzle in the past.

"Sis, look!" he called after a while, jolting me back into the real world. Yugi held up an almost complete Millennium Puzzle-the only piece missing was the piece with the Eye of Horus. My eyes widened slightly as a smile spread across my face.

"I knew you could do it!" I praised him with a smile, his answering smile even bigger. He reached into the box for the last piece as I gripped my pendant tightly, my fingers tracing its edge. I frowned slightly as my fingers came to a hole. I looked down at my pendant and gasped in horror. A piece was missing! Yugi cried out the same thing as he found the Puzzle's box completely empty. We quickly ransacked our rooms in the hope that they'd fallen in either of them by accident, even checking Cali's room and enlisting her in our search; no such luck.

In the end we entered Yugi's room again, completely destroyed. We lied on the bed together as we stared at the ceiling.

_Now our wish will never come true. . ._Yugi and I thought sadly.

We were so caught up in our suffering, we didn't hear or see Grandpa come in. He stopped at the desk to examine the Puzzle in amazement.

"Incredible! Yugi, you finished the Millennium Puzzle!" he exclaimed in wonder. Yugi sat up and shook his head.

"No, Grandpa, I couldn't finish it after all. . ." he murmured.

"Let's see. . ." Grandpa mused, carefully picking up the Puzzle and examining it, then doing the same to the Disk.

"Yugi, you and Tori have poured your hearts into these puzzles for the last eight years. . .both of you should have more faith!" At Grandpa's words, Cali and I sat up, too.

"Huh?" we asked together.

"You wishes will be granted!" he said, putting his hand in his pocket and pulling something out in his fist. When he opened it, our Puzzle pieces were sitting in his palm! Yugi and I leapt off the bed and tag-teamed bear-hugged him, almost knocking him off his feet.

"You found them for us! Thank you!" we cheered together. Grandpa handed the pieces to us and we let go, but he shook his head.

"I wasn't the one who found it," he said. We looked at him curiously.

"A friend of yours came by. . .he asked me to give that to you." Grandpa said, making Cali's eyebrows disappear into her hairline.

"Even though it wasn't raining, he was soaking wet. . ." Cali smiled widely as Grandpa finished speaking. Yugi and I exchanged glances as we looked at our Puzzle pieces.

_I wonder who that could have been?_ I mused. Yugi shrugged slightly.

_We'll thank him when we find him,_ he answered. I nodded in agreement.

* * *

(Cali's P.O.V)

I quietly got up and moved to join Grandpa as he exited the room, pausing once to put something in Yugi's schoolbag; neither of them noticed since they were still wondering who had found the pieces for them. We closed the door behind us and began talking as we moved down the hall.

"He told me everything. . .said his name was Joey. . .asked me not to tell them his name." He explained to me.

_That idiot,_ I thought fondly, imagining my blonde friend diving into the pool to recover the puzzle pieces.

"I was worried about your injuries, but," he confessed. "He told me a thug named Ushio is threatening them."

"That's all true," I admitted sadly. _I may be the youngest out of the three of us, but I'm also the toughest, and I had always promised myself that I'd look out for my older siblings; that's a switch, huh?_

"The money is in Yugi's bag. . ." he said."If that can keep them out of trouble. . ."

"When have they even been in trouble before, though?" I asked. "They're nice, quiet teens, unlike me and the guys. They've only gotten in trouble because someone else did something."

We turned to look back at the door to Yugi's room and smiled; we could hear their excited voices all the way down the hall.

"I'm amazed that they finished the Millennium Puzzle and Disk, but they are my grandchildren. . ." Grandpa trailed off and looked at me apologetically. I shrugged.

"It's all right, Gramps. I know I'm no puzzle wiz like they are," I said. He smiled at me and went on.

"It's written in the Book of the Dead that the one who solves the Puzzle inherits the Shadow Games. He becomes the Guardian of Right and passes judgment on evil. The one who solves the Disk becomes the Guardian of Balance and judges the Guardian of Right's opponents as well as counteracting the Guardian of Right's punishments if they become too terrible," Grandpa trailed off and laughed a little.

"I think that thug, Ushio, might be the one getting in trouble. . ." He finished with a slight smirk. I smirked a little myself.

_Now that I'd pay to see,_ I thought as I entered my room and went to bed.

* * *

(Tori's P.O.V.)

Yugi and I exchanged excited looks, then put the remaining puzzle pieces in their slots together. As we completed the puzzles, I felt energy begin to fill me, giving me power that I'd never dreamed that I'd possess. The energy overwhelmed me, and I collapsed on the bed, blacking out, Yugi doing the same. We missed seeing the Eyes of Horus that appeared on our foreheads brightly glow gold.

-(3rd Person P.O.V, I think)

Midnight at Domino High; no one's around. . .except for that thug Ushio. He stopped in the courtyard and looked around with narrowed eyes.

"I can't believe that Yugi called me out," he muttered to himself. "And to the school at midnight. . ." A flash of gold catches his eye, and he turned to see what it was and got a shock; Yugi sat on top of a set of hurdle blocks nearby, looking different than he'd seen him earlier.

"Thanks for coming, Ushio," Yugi said, smirking.

Ushio recovered quickly. "Well, I gotta hand it to you," he said. "I can tell you're gonna be a good little boy and give me the money like I asked."

He paused slightly. "Don't like that weird costume and that your sister's not here to pay her half. . .but that's okay!"

He held out his hand. "Hand it over now. . .the cash! The money! 200,000 Yen!"

Yugi held up a pile of bills. "It's right here," he said. "And we've raised it to 400,000. . ."

Anybody could see the greedy glint in Ushio's eyes. "400,000!" he grinned widely.

"But this much money; it wouldn't be fun to just hand it over," Yugi said. "So. . .how about you play a game with me?"

"A game?" Ushio asked, puzzled.

Yugi nodded. "Right; but not just any game. . .a Shadow game!" He raised an eyebrow at Ushio. "How about it? If you in, you get more than 200,000 Yen! Not bad, huh?"

"Interesting. . ." Ushio said, smirking.

"We need just one tool to play this game." Yugi pointed at Ushio. "That knife you've got hidden, Ushio!"

Ushio took the knife out of his pocket and placed it on top of the blocks alongside the money. Yugi nodded to himself.

"Okay, everything's prepared!"

"Money and a knife?" Ushio asked. _What game can we play with these?_ He wondered.

"I'll explain the rules!" Yugi said. He placed the money on top of his left hand and picked up the knife with his right, holding it over the bills and his left.

"The players take turns putting the money on top of their hand and stabbing it with the knife," he explained. "The players keep only the money that the knife stabs, and he must always take more than one bill." He put the knife down and put the money next to it as he went on.

"The game continues until the last bill is gone! The challenge is to take as much money as possible. If a player tries to take the money by hand or quit the game, he loses and forfeits all of his money to the opponent." He smirked again.

"Doesn't that sound interesting?" he asked.

"Huh! It's just a test of courage. . ." Ushio laughed slightly. On the inside, he was starting to panic a bit. _I-is this really Yugi?_

In the shadows of the school, another figure watched. A golden glow illuminated them briefly as they murmured, "The stage has been set; let the judging of the soul begin."

Yugi grinned menacingly. "But if you break the rules, as punishment the penalty game decides your fate!" he warned as they 'Ro-Sham-Bo'ed* to see who went first; Yugi won, and carefully inserted the knife into the bills. He pulled it out as carefully and sighed in relief.

"I didn't even get ten bills," he said as he examined his catch. "I thought I'd put my strength in it, but they're not easy to stab. . ." he took the bills off and handed the knife to Ushio. "Okay, your turn!"

Ushio grabbed the knife and positioned it over the money; he hesitated.

"If you use too much strength you'll stab yourself," Yugi warned. "The point of the game is to control your greed!"

"Shut up!" Ushio snapped, plunging the knife into the bills. When he lifted it, most of the money came with it. He held it up gloatingly as he laughed.

"Look! Over 100,000 Yen! And not a mark on my hand! I should have stabbed harder!" He said.

Yugi took the knife and smiled slightly. "Not bad; but it gets harder to control your strength with each turn," he said, chuckling a little under his breath.

After another few turns, Yugi spoke up again. "There's not a lot of money left; the game is almost over!" he proclaimed.

_There's nothing to this game!_ Ushio thought as he positioned the knife over the money. "The rest of this money is mine!" he said grinning. He relaxed his hand to take aim; but it wouldn't loosen up.

_What's wrong with my arm?_ He thought. _I can't relax it; this is bad! _He looked down at the money-and his other hand underneath it. _My right arm's trying to swing down with all its strength; I'm aiming for the money and my left hand together!_ He tried in vain to relax is arm, but it wouldn't move an inch.

Yugi smirked knowingly as he watched Ushio struggle. _In the Shadow games, a person's true nature is revealed to decide their fate,_ he thought. _Ushio! Your arm is controlled by your greed. You can no longer stop it. What will you do? Will you sacrifice you left hand to get the money, or. . ._

Ushio stopped struggling and grinned menacingly. "The answer is simple! There is a way I can take a stab without hurting my left hand and getting all of the money!" He raised the knife and aimed it at Yugi!

"You let me hold this knife! That's why you lose!" he laughed as he expertly tossed it at Yugi. Yugi grinned himself and jumped to dodge the incoming knife. He landed a few feet away and smirked as the other figure, Tori, came out of the shadows.

"Just as we thought; you weren't able to follow the rules after all!" Yugi said. Their foreheads began to glow gold, and an eye appeared in each one.

_What the-their foreheads! Those eyes!_ Ushio thought in surprise.

"These are only seen by those who 'trespass in our souls'," Tori said with a nasty smile on her lips.

"Like those who hurt our friends and try to steal our money!" Yugi added.

"Penalty Game! The Illusion of Avarice!" Yugi commanded, pointing at Ushio. The bully's eyes glowed a brilliant shade of green for a second, then returned to their normal color. He saw bills floating around him everywhere, and jumped around to collect them all, babbling about all of it being his.

"They say money can make your head spin," Yugi said. "Now the only thing in your head is the Illusion of Avarice!"

"The judgment is complete," Tori said as they turned and began walking away. "The soul was judged and penalized, as it should be, Brother."

Yugi nodded. "For as greedy as he is, this might actually be a happy ending for him, Sister." He patted his jacket pocked and smirked. "And we've gotten all our money back."

They disappeared into the shadows, leaving the former bully to his illusion.

* * *

(Tori's P.O.V. again)

I woke up in my room with a slight headache and a funny dream lingering in my mind; the most I could remember was someone like Yugi challenging that bully Ushio to a game of some kind, and winning against him, and a woman in Egyptian dress calling out to me. _I wonder what it means. . ._

I looked at my clock and shook it off; _I can think about it later. I better get ready!_ I scrambled into my uniform and hurriedly brushed my shoulder-length, spiky black hair and blond-tipped red bangs before racing downstairs for breakfast.

Cali and I downed our cereal as Yugi shot into his seat to our left and began vacuuming down his own breakfast; we finished in no time and hurriedly said good-bye to Grandpa before running out the door to get to school on time; luckily, by the time we reached the school, most of the other students were still lingering in the courtyard, so we slowed down, knowing we still had time to spare before class started.

A large group of students standing around one of the trees in the courtyard caught our attention; as we got closer, we saw that they were surrounding Ushio, who was lying in a pile of leaves and garbage, rambling on about it being his money and not sharing it with anyone. I listened with surprise.

_Maybe my dream was a little more real than I thought. . ._I mused. The three of us exchanged looks and shrugged together before heading inside. Yugi ruffled his hair as he yawned.

"I can't remember what happened after I completed the Millennium Puzzle last night. . ." he sighed. We all stopped in our tracks and paused as we thought over his statement. We looked at the pendant around his neck and grinned widely together.

"The Puzzle!" he exclaimed, holding it in his hands. "That's right! I finally finished the Millennium Puzzle!" he cheered, taking the Puzzle from around his neck and tossing it into the air as Cali and I whooped and cheered.

"That's my big bro!" Cali said, giving him a bear hug and noogie as he caught the Puzzle.

I ruffled Yugi's hair as Cali let go of him. "Knew you could do it," I whispered to him as he placed the Puzzle around his neck once more. I held my Disk in my hand, closing my fist around it.

_Our treasures,_ I thought as we shared a smile. We rounded the corner and were surprised to see Joey leaning against the wall; we winced slightly as we saw Joey's face, covered in bruises and bandages.

"Yo, Yugi, Tori," he greeted us, pausing before acknowledging Cali. "Cali; hey."

She nodded to him with a smile. "Jo. Hi," she said to him.

"How you guys doing?" he asked us casually. I was a little surprised, to say the least. _What, no taunts? This is a surprise._

"Good," Yugi answered for all three of us. "And you, Joey?"

"This is nothing," Joey said, tapping one of his bruises nonchalantly. "Happens all the time." He turned to us and smiled.

"Yugi, Tori! If you two can keep treasures, so can I!" he said to us. "Wanna see?" we nodded.

He shook his head and laughed. "You can't! I'll give you guys a hint; it's something you can show, but can't see." We looked at each other and tried to figure out Joey's riddle.

'_Something you can show, but can't see'. . ._I frowned in concentration. _What could it be?_

Cali shook her head helplessly. _Don't look at me, I'm no Riddler; besides, up 'till now I didn't even know that he was smart enough to make up a riddle._

Yugi sighed. _For once, I've got nothing._

_Neither do I,_ I admitted. We turned to Joey for the answer.

"You guys give up?" he asked; we nodded together. "C'mon, it's friendship! Thanks for showing me that we're friends." He told us with a smile. Cali smiled back and walked over to him, giving him a quick noogie before smacking his shoulder.

Yugi and I were stunned, and it took us a few seconds before we could come up with a response. We smiled widely together before answering together.

"Okay!" Joey grinned back for a minute before squirming a little, then running off down the hall, to our surprise.

"Well. . .later! See you guys in class!" he called over his shoulder. Ugh, how can I say such corny stuff? He thought.

In his haste to get going, Joey left one of his shoes behind. Cali sweatdropped as she picked it up. She yelled down the hall in the direction Joey was going, "Hey! Joseph, you moron! You dropped one of your shoes!" She sighed as he came back to us for said shoe.

"I swear, I'm gonna beat the crap out of you if you do that again." Joey paled slightly at her statement, but she winked at us, letting us know she was faking. Yugi and I exchanged looks as the four of us walked to our classroom, joined by Tristan and Tea on the way.

_Just another normal day,_ I thought.

_Normal for us,_ Yugi thought back.

_But we had no idea how much our 'normal days' would change after that day. . ._

* * *

Hey, guys! Glad you could join me down here; I'm sorry for the eye-full, but I didn't want to break this thing up into chapters. I'll update again after my main story's finished(or after I find the episodes online, whichever comes first), so I hope you all will be able to hold off until then.

*Ro-Sham-Bo is just a fancy Japanese or Egyptian way of saying 'Rock-Paper-Scissors', for all of you who don't know; Yami uses it often in the original manga. And for those of you who aren't fluent in Japanese, kame is Japanese for turtle.

Now, thanks to everyone who lasted through this pain in the *** chapter; hope you review, and no flames, please! See you for the next chapter!


	2. Heart Of The Cards

Hey, guys! Sorry I took so long getting this chapter up; I almost gave up on finding the episodes online until I found this episode transcript site that I'll be using for the other chapters. I hope you'll enjoy this chapter, which I'm dedicating to Cosmic Kiss, for inspiring me to write this whole story in the first place!

Thorn: They don't care where you got the info for the chap or who you're dedicating it to, they just wanna read it!

As sad as this is to say, I think Thorn's at least half-right for once. So, I'll let you guys go on. *nudges Thorn* Thornie?

Thorn: *rolls eyes* My employer, Nyx'sBlackRose, owns nothing in this fanfiction except for Tori and Cali Muto, got it?

Thanks, Thornie. See you guys down at the bottom!

* * *

Chapter 2: Heart of the Cards

(Tori's P.O.V.)

_Over the weeks after our run-in with Ushio, Joey, Tristan, and Cali became bigger pieces of our group; we began to hang out together more and more, until the six of us were almost inseparable during school and after for periods of time. Yugi, Cali, and I began trying to teach Joey our favorite card game, Duel Monsters, one of Grandpa's favorites as well. We dueled every day at recess and lunchtime, and Joey tried his hardest to beat whichever one of us he was going against that day; for some reason, there was always a crowd around us whenever we dueled. Yugi and I chalked it up to fellow duelists looking for tips, or newcomers interested in watching more seasoned players before starting themselves._

* * *

_Today Joey and my big brother are dueling; and, as usual, Joey isn't doing so hot; I stood by my big brother to offer him advice every now and then._ He stared at his hand, lost in thought with a slightly puzzled expression on his face. Yugi and I exchanged looks as Cali rolled her eyes from her spot on the sidelines to our left.

"Hey, Joey!" Yugi said, trying to bring our blonde friend back to our world.

"Earth to Joey!" I joined in. "Hey, are you in there? It's your turn."

Joey shook his head and stared at his hand with the same expression on his face as before. "Uh. . ."

Tristan came up behind Joey and ruffled his hair. "Isn't he cute when he's thinking?" he teased as he and Cali chuckled.

Joey brushed him off and turned to him. "Hey Tristan," he said. "Yugi and Tori here're teaching me how to play Duel Monsters."

Tristan blinked. "Drooling Monsters?" he asked in surprise as he rested his arms and head on top of Joey's.

Joey scowled and shoved him off. "Duel Monsters, you nimrod," Joey grumbled at him in annoyance.

"Sheesh," Tristan rolled his eyes slightly as he joined Cali on the sidelines. Tea spoke up from Cali's right side.

"They've been at it for hours," she explained to him. "Joey's starting to get the hang of the game, but Yugi and Tori are like experts." Yugi and I exchange smiles at her compliment.

"Hey, they're not the only experts around here," Cali spoke up, holding her head up proudly.

"Oh yeah? Then why aren't _you_ dueling Joey?" Tristan asked her.

"He wanted to duel my sibs today, and I didn't feel like fighting him," she answered, crossing her arms and turning away as Tristan sweatdropped.

"Okay, Yugi," Joey said, slapping down a card on the desktop and grinning at us, "It's time to duel!"

The card turned out to be a monster card called 'Kagemusha of the Blue Flame' that had an ATK power of 800.

"See, each card has an attack (ATK) number and a defense (DEF) number," Tea explained to Tristan. "The first player to eliminate the other player's Life Points wins the duel."

"Pretty good move, huh, Yugi? Tori?" Joey gloated.

We nodded together in agreement. "Yup! Pretty good move," Yugi started.

"But not good enough!" I finished as Yugi played a monster card of his own from his hand; it was called the 'Black Land Dragon' and with 1500 ATK points, it had more than enough power to blow Joey's little warrior out of the water.

Joey gaped slightly, then sulked as he lost the rest of his Life Points. "What!? Thanks a lot; a card that powerful totally wipes me out!"

Tristan and Cali began laughing at the blonde. "Whoa, you stink at this game, Jo." Tristan said in between laughs. Joey scowled and began fighting with him and Cali about his skills. Yugi and I looked on in amusement.

_That's our Joey,_ I thought with a giggle. Yugi smiled and nodded his agreement before stepping in to break up the three-way fight.

"You did fine, Joey," Yugi said, making the three stop and look over at us. "I just have better cards, that's all."

I spoke up after Yugi finished. "You know our Grandpa has a game shop. We get all our best cards from him." Joey stepped away from Tristan and Cali and grinned at us.

"Right, I forgot about you guys having your own game shop. What are we waiting for? Let's go after school!"

Yugi, Cali, and I exchanged looks and nodded to each other before turning to the others. "Okay," We said together.

"Maybe we could even get Grandpa to show us this super-rare card he's got," Yugi added. With those words, we unknowingly gained an eavesdropper. (A/N: anyone who's watched the anime knows who this is. :))

_Rare card?_ He thought. _Could they have found the card that I've been searching for?_

* * *

As soon as the last bell rang, we took off, stopping only to grab our stuff before racing over to the Kame Game Shop, our family's game store.

"Grandpa? We're home!" Yugi, Cali, and I called together as we entered the shop. Grandpa looked up from the counter and smiled at us.

"And I see you've brought company," he said, nodding to the others.

"Gramps, could you show the guys your awesome, super-rare card?" Cali asked with her puppy-dog face; _Cali's face is even better than Yugi's. Whenever she uses it, there's a high chance of her getting what she wants._

Grandpa pretended to frown and think about it. "Rare card? My special card? Hmm. . ."

Yugi and I bowed and crossed our fingers. "Please! Please! Please!" we begged together.

"Pretty please?" Joey asked, joining us at the counter.

"Hmm. . .ha ha!" Grandpa dropped the act and smiled at us. "How could I refuse? You kids are in for a treat; I don't take this card out often." He pulled out his special card case and placed it on the counter, then unlocked it and pulled out his card.

"Ready? Here it is." He turned the card around and I couldn't keep from gasping in surprise. It was the dragon from my dream!

"The Blue Eyes White Dragon, so rare, so powerful, that I never let it leave my hands." Grandpa proclaimed proudly.

"Awesome!" Joey said as he stared at the Blue Eyes.

Tristan snatched it out of Grandpa's hands and looked it over himself. "It doesn't look all that special to me. . ." he said.

Grandpa paled and quickly took it back. "Ah! This card is priceless! There are only four of them in all the world!"

Joey grinned and rubbed his hands together. "Speaking of priceless, I'm ready to trade!"

Grandpa held the Blue Eyes closer to himself protectively. "Not for this card."

Joey blinked in surprise. "Huh? Nah, I didn't mean that card. I meant, show me some other cool cards to get me started!"

I barely heard any of this, since I was still thinking about Grandpa's Blue Eyes being in my dream, but my attention was caught when the shop door opened. I was even more surprised when I saw who walked in to join us.

"Hello, can I help you?" Grandpa asked, turning towards the customer.

"Huh?" Tea asked as she and the others turned to look for themselves.

"If you can't, it certainly wouldn't surprise me." The customer sneered.

My brother's eyes widened in surprise as mine narrowed in annoyance. "Seto Kaiba!" we said together.

Joey watched with surprise. "Kaiba?"

Tristan's eyes narrowed slightly at Kaiba. "Doesn't he have some big fancy company to run? What's he doing down here?"

Kaiba glared at Tristan. "Not that it's any of your business, but I came to see the card."

Joey, playing nice for once, stepped towards Kaiba and smiled at him. "Hey, are you into Duel Monsters, too? This is perfect. Maybe we could all duel together sometime." He suggested.

Kaiba just sneered at him, too. "Me, duel you? I'd have more of a challenge playing Solitaire."

Joey blinked in surprise. "What?" he asked.

"I am the number-one ranked Duelist in the country, and the favorite to win the Duel Monsters Championship," Kaiba said. "Hah, you wouldn't last two minutes in a duel against me."

Joey scowled and clenched his hands into fists as he tried to not punch Kaiba that second. "Ooh, I'm shaking. Why don't we settle this with fists instead of cards?"

_So much for playing nice,_ Cali sweatdropped. I didn't answer her, too busy hoping Joey would slug him good across the face. _Normally I'm the last to get violent, but it makes me sick how Kaiba flaunts his money and status whenever someone tries to talk to him or befriend him at school._ My big brother, being the main peacekeeper in the family, naturally intervened before things got out of hand.

"Whoa! Take it easy, Joey." He said.

Joey turned to him in protest. "But Yugi, Kaiba's asking for it!"

_For once, I'm with the blonde; let him do it,_ I thought to my brother, who frowned at me.

_Tori, you're not helping,_ he thought back to me.

Kaiba ignored us and stepped to the counter. "Now, does this shop have any worthwhile cards or not?" His eyes widened as he caught sight of Grandpa's Blue Eyes. "Can it be? The Blue Eyes White Dragon in a dump like this?!" he muttered to himself. _It is! The card I've been searching for._

I scowled at him, liking him even less than before. _Although he does look good in the school uniform. . ._a thought popped up in my mind. I shook my head to get rid of it.

_Please! Unless he changes his entire tune, I'll never like him!_ I thought sharply.

Grandpa covered the Blue Eyes, shielding it from Kaiba's view. "Well, enough window-shopping," he said, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Is there anything else I can help you with?"

Kaiba scowled, lifting the briefcase he brought in with him onto the counter and opening it to reveal dozens and dozens of Duel Monsters cards. My eyes widened in shock, my disgust temporarily forgotten.

"Ooh." Grandpa said as he looked at the cards.

"Listen to me, old man," Kaiba said. "Give me your Blue Eyes White Dragon card and I'll trade you all of these."

Our jaws dropped at Kaiba's offer. "Whoa!" we gasped together.

"Nice. . .but no thanks," Grandpa said calmly. I'm sure that my eyes widened until they were the size of dinner plates.

_I know I'm wrong in thinking this, but how could Gramps turn him down?!_ Cali thought, stunned.

Kaiba scowled. "Fine. If you won't trade, maybe you'll sell it. Name your price; I can pay anything that you ask."

I recovered quickly and shook my head sadly. _This is what I mean about his money,_ I thought.

"I'm sure you could," Grandpa said. "But this card is worth more than you could ever offer. Not because of its power of because it's so rare, but because of what it means to me. This card was given to me by a dear friend, and so I treasure this card as I do that friend; so parting with it is completely out of the question."

Yugi and I nodded our approval as Grandpa ended his little speech.

Kaiba groaned unhappily. "No!" he cried in protest.

"You'd feel the same way even if it were a common card, right Grandpa?" Yugi asked.

Grandpa nodded to him. "Exactly. You see, this precious card has bonded with my heart." He explained. The two of us and Cali nodded back; _we'd heard the 'Heart of the Cards' stories all our lives, and have believed in them since the first time Grandpa told us about it._

Kaiba scowled again and slammed his briefcase shut. "Fine! I've heard enough of your nonsense." He turned and walked out of the shop. "Senile old fool," he muttered under his breath as the door slammed closed behind him.

"Now that the sourpuss is gone," Cali said, making us turn to look at her, "we can get to the fun part: dueling!" Joey, Yugi, and I grinned and cheered. We went into the house and settled down in the living room, ready to duel.

_In the end, the guys stayed over for a while and played Duel Monsters with us; Joey lost a few more times, and came close to winning a bit more often. Cali joined in and whooped Joey's butt more times than Yugi or I did, which almost resulted in a huge fight between them. We even inspired Tea and Tristan to get a few packs of cards for themselves. After the shop closed, Grandpa came in to advise us on our decks; although after a while, he sent the guys and Tea home and sent us to bed, but we still had fun._

* * *

_The next day at school, we were even more enthusiastic than yesterday; Joey, Cali, Yugi, and I played our best against each other, and Tea and Tristan took turns every now and then, too. We were surrounded by an even bigger crowd than yesterday, and some kids even asked if they could duel with us; we accepted, and our Dueling group grew even bigger. The guys walked home with us again so they could get more cards and tips from Grandpa._

"Man, I hope he has more cards today," Joey said, to which we all agreed with.

"Okay, Gramps, I'm back to get more cards," Joey called as we walked into the shop.

"Grandpa, we're home!" Yugi, Cali, and I added together.

"Maybe he went out?" Tea suggested.

"Maybe. But why would he leave the door unlocked?" Joey asked, bringing up a good point.

_Joey's right, bro. I'm getting a little worried,_ I thought to my brother.

He put a hand on my shoulder. _Don't worry, sis,_ he thought, _I bet he's fine and on his way back as we speak_. I smiled a little at him as the shop phone rang.

Yugi went over and picked up the receiver. "Hello, game shop," he greeted the caller. I leaned in slightly so I could hear what was being said.

"Ah, Yugi. Perfect," the voice on the other end of the line said; that smug voice was instantly recognized by the both of us.

"Kaiba?!" we gasped together.

"Your grandfather's here visiting," he said, "But he's not feeling well. Why don't you come to my office and pick him up?"

"Kaiba! What've you done, Kaiba?" Yugi demanded, not getting a response because the jerk hung up on us, leaving me even more worried and furious than I had been before.

_I knew something happened!_ I thought grimly as we headed out the door.

* * *

We raced to the KaibaCorp building as fast as we could, making our way to the top floor where Kaiba's office was to face him. When the elevator doors opened, I almost had a heart attack; our grandfather was lying on the floor barely a few feet away from us, not looking too good.

"Grandpa!" I gasped as Yugi, Cali, and I quickly surrounded him.

"Gramps! A-are you okay?!" Cali asked shakily. Grandpa slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position.

"Kids, I failed. I wanted to teach that boy Kaiba a lesson about the Heart of the Cards but I lost." Grandpa trailed off as he groaned.

"Grandpa!" We cried together.

"How's the old man feeling, hmm?" Kaiba asked as he casually walked over to us.

Joey sprang up in front of us protectively. "Kaiba, you sleaze. What've you done to him?" he demanded.

"We had a duel, that's all," Kaiba said innocently. "With each of us putting up our most valuable card as the prize. But I guess playing against a champion like myself was just too much stimulation for the old fool."

"Kaiba, you should be ashamed of yourself," Tea exclaimed as she pointed at him. I silently agreed completely with her.

"It was fair," Kaiba protested as he held up Grandpa's Blue Eyes White Dragon. "And look at the sweet prize I won." I almost lost it when the jerk actually tore the Blue Eyes in two, which everyone gasped at.

"Grandpa's most treasured card!" Yugi cried in horror.

"Yes, the Blue Eyes White Dragon is a rare and powerful card," Kaiba agreed. "And this one will never be used against me."

"Ahh, my Blue Eyes White Dragon. My treasure. . ." Grandpa moaned.

"Grandpa, hold on!" Yugi and Cali cried. I glared at Kaiba with all the venom I could muster.

"How could you do such a thing?!" I demanded angrily.

"Yugi, here," Grandpa said, grabbing our attention again. He held out a Duel Monsters deck to my brother. "Take this."

"Huh? Grandpa," Yugi asked as we looked at the deck.

"I built this deck. I put my soul in these cards," Grandpa explained. "And I taught you everything I know, Yugi. Take them. Take my cards and teach him respect. Teach Kaiba respect for the Heart of the Cards, Yugi." When he finished his monologue, he turned to me.

"Tori, please watch over your brother for me; give him advice when he needs it, and help him teach Kaiba about respecting the cards," he told me.

"But Grandpa, you need help," Yugi protested.

"We've gotta get you to a doctor," I agreed.

"That sounds like an excuse," Kaiba sneered at us. "Your little sister and friends can take care of your grandfather while you and I duel, Yugi. . .unless you're afraid?"

"Take him, Yugi!" Joey said.

"Huh?" Yugi asked, turning to the others in confusion.

"We can take care of your Grandpa while you take care of creepy Kaiba. Teach that rich, spoiled brat what a real duel's all about," Joey instructed.

"For your Grandpa, Yugi," Tea added.

"I don't know. . ." Yugi murmured in hesitation. Cali and I rested our hands on his shoulders.

_We know you'll kick his ass, big brother,_ Cali encouraged.

_What she said, minus the language,_ I added, shooting my sister a look.

"Trust me, you're like the best player I've ever seen, and with the Millennium Puzzle and Tori's help, you're lethal," Joey added his two cents. "You've got this, Yugi! I know you can do it!"

"We all to," Tea agreed. Yugi nodded and gently took the deck from Grandpa's hands.

"Okay Grandpa, I'll do it," he said.

"And I will, too," I said in agreement, placing a hand on the deck.

"I know you will, you two," Grandpa replied.

Tea pulled a marker out from her jacket pocket.

"Everyone, put your hands together and I'll mark us with a special sign," she ordered. We did what she asked, and she drew a big smiley-face on our combined hands.

"What gives, Tea?" Joey asked, pulling his hand away to look at it.

"It's a symbol of our friendship," Tea explained. "So that when Yugi or Tori are dueling, no matter how tough it gets, they'll know that they aren't alone, we're all right here with them."

With that, the medical crew Tristan had called showed up, lifting Grandpa up onto a stretcher and out of the building.

* * *

(3rd Person P.O.V.)

Cali turned to Joey as the EMTs loaded Solomon into the ambulance. "Jo, Tristan, Tea, and I'll take Gramps to the hospital. You go back and help my sis cheer my big brother on," she ordered him.

Joey thought about fighting her, but dropped it and smiled at her instead. "'Kay. Take good care of him, Cal." He said before racing back inside the building.

* * *

(Still 3rd Person)

Inside, Kaiba led Yugi and Tori to a giant Duel Monsters arena.

"I designed this virtual arena myself. Impressive, hmm? I think you'll agree, it adds a bit more life to the game. We each begin with 2000 Life Points; the first player to reach 0 loses. Are you ready to play, runt?" Kaiba asked.

"Playtime is over, Kaiba," Yugi proclaimed as golden light from the Millennium Puzzle surrounded him for a second. The same color light came from the Millennium Disk and shielded Tori from view for the same amount of time, too. When the light disappeared, Yugi and Tori looked different; still themselves, but older and taller, like they'd aged a few years in seconds.

"What the-?" Kaiba asked, looking from Yugi to Tori in confusion.

"Now, Kaiba, prepare yourself," Tori started.

"Because it's time to duel!" Yugi finished, drawing from his deck.

**Kaiba: 2000**

**Yugi: 2000**

"Virtual systems ready. So, let's begin," Kaiba said, drawing from his own deck. He smirked and played a monster card. "I attack with the mighty Hitotsu-Me Giant(1200/1000). Brace yourself, Yugi. You've never dueled like this before!"

As Kaiba played the card, a monstrous Cyclops with green skin appeared on the field in front of him.

Tori gasped and recoiled from the beast slightly. "He's brought the monster on the card to life!" she exclaimed.

"It's my virtual simulator," Kaiba explained smugly. "It creates life-like holograms of every Duel Monster."

"So this is how you beat my grandfather," Yugi said, putting the pieces together. "Well, now it's my turn." He drew a card, then played a monster. "I call upon the Winged Dragon, Guardian of the Fortress(1400/1200)!

A big blue dragon appeared on Yugi's side of the field as Joey ran in and stopped next to Tori.

"Whoa, monsters! Real monsters!" Joey gawked at the dragon and giant.

"Fireball Attack!" Yugi commanded. The dragon unleashed a fireball from his mouth at the giant, who was turned into pixels and destroyed.

A little kid with black hair ran into the arena from the entrance on the other side and stopped near Kaiba's platform.

"Big brother! Are you alright?" he cried as he watched Kaiba's Life Points go down.

**Kaiba: 1800**

**Yugi: 2000**

"Alright, go Yugi!" Joey cheered.

"Hah. Well played, Yugi. . .for a beginner," Kaiba said. "But how will you deal with this?" He played a monster on the field called Saggi the Dark Clown(600/1500).

"Saggi the Dark Clown? But that card has hardly any attack strength," Yugi said in confusion.

"True, your Winged Dragon's attack is 1400 while my Clown's is only 600, but if I combine it with this card," Kaiba trailed off as he held up a card for Yugi to see.

"Ah, a Magic card!" Yugi said in realization.

"Exactly. The Negative Energy Generator; it multiplies my monster's attack by 3. Dark Clown, attack with Dark Light!" Kaiba commanded. (Saggi the Dark Clown 600x3=1800 ATK)

Dark gray light flew from the clown's hands and dissolved the dragon into nothing.

**Kaiba: 1800**

**Yugi: 1600**

"As you can see, combining cards can be very effective," Kaiba finished smugly.

_He's good,_ Yugi thought. _He knows every aspect of the game._

_But Grandpa put all of his gaming knowledge, his whole heart, into assembling that deck,_ Tori added. _We have to believe that it holds some secret strategy._

Yugi sighed in frustration as he looks at the card he's drawn, an Arm of the Forbidden One(200/300). _Ah, this card is useless; I can't beat the Dark Clown with this. I'll have to use a different monster in defense mode._

Tori nodded her approval. _The monster will be sacrificed, but your overall Life Points will be safe._

Yugi nodded in acknowledgement and played a card face down in defense mode, which Kaiba had his monster attack and destroy.

"Hang in there, Yugi!" Joey called in encouragement.

"You're not fairing any better than the old man did, Yugi," Kaiba said. "Your deck is as week and feeble as your grandfather."

"My grandfather is a great man, and a better Duelist than you'll ever be," Yugi growled fiercely. "He entrusted me with his cards, and I can feel his heart in this deck. I doubt you have that kind of faith in your cards, Kaiba."

A look of surprise crossed Kaiba's face. "What?"

Yugi drew and smirked at the card. "And my faith rewards me with Gaia the Fierce Knight!" Yugi said, placing it on the field. "With a destructive power of 2300/2100."

Kaiba growled in frustration as an armored knight with a set of lances on an equally armored horse appeared on the field and ran his clown through, destroying it and reducing his Life Points.

**Kaiba: 1300**

**Yugi: 1600**

"Way to go, Yugi! Joey cheered. Tori smiled at her brother wordlessly.

"Alright, Kaiba; it's your move," Yugi said.

"Hah. This'll be over sooner than you think," Kaiba said as he drew. He smirked at his card. "Hmm. I call on the Blue Eyes White Dragon."

Kaiba played the monster, and a dragon with incredible blue eyes and silver-white scales appeared with a powerful roar.

"No way," Yugi and Tori gasped together.

"Impossible!" Joey gaped at the dragon. "We all watched Kaiba tear that card in half."

"Surprised?" Kaiba asked. "Did you think your grandfather was the only one to possess a Blue Eyes White Dragon?"

The Blue Eyes opened its mouth and shot a white beam of light at Gaia, destroying him and taking most of Yugi's Life Points with him.

**Kaiba: 1300**

**Yugi: 900**

"Your Fierce Knight is destroyed. Faith or no faith, you will fall before my superior monsters, Yugi," Kaiba gloated smugly. "Power is what this game is all about, you fool. Faith is for losers. . .like your pathetic grandfather. In your entire deck there's not a card that can stand up to a Blue Eyes White Dragon." He held up a monster card. "So what hope do you have against two?"

The second dragon appeared on the field, a perfect copy of the first. "Why don't you just admit defeat, Yugi?"

* * *

(Scene change; 3rd Person)

Tea, Tristan, and Cali stuck close as a doctor and a small group of nurses wheeled Solomon down a hospital hallway with a oxygen mask on to help him breathe.

"Don't give up. . .Yugi," he wheezed softly, no one catching his words except for his youngest granddaughter.

* * *

(Scene change 2; 3rd Person)

"I won't give up," Yugi said as he drew once again. "Huh, a magic card," he murmured as he looked at it, then played it on the field. "Swords of Revealing Light! It stops all the monsters on the field for 3 turns."

A set of glowing swords surrounded the Blue Eyes', preventing them from attacking.

"How desperate," Kaiba sneered. "What possible good will a 3-turn delay do you?"

_He's right,_ Yugi thought miserably as he stared at the remaining cards in his hand: an Arm and two Legs of the Forbidden One, all 200/300. _They're just a bunch of. . .pieces. How can I use them to battle an expert like Kaiba?_

Tori tried to give him a hint or strategy that the cards could be used in, but she came up blank as well. _Maybe it is impossible to win. . .she sighed, frowning._

"For someone claiming to have faith, you two are giving up too easily," a voice said behind them. (You've all seen the episode and know what's coming, so just consider Yugi and Tori in a separate place from Kaiba during this talk, k?)

They turned around in surprise and saw Solomon standing just a foot behind them. He smiled at them encouragingly. "Listen, sometimes the cards are like a puzzle," he said to them. "You have to put all the different pieces in their proper place."

"Ah, like the Millennium Puzzle and Disk?" Yugi asked.

Solomon nodded. "Exactly. Each piece helps build a greater entity." He faded away after speaking, to Yugi and Tori's shock.

"Grandpa!" They called together worriedly.

_Like the pieces of a puzzle. Remember. . ._ Solomon's voice whispered to them. They exchanged puzzled looks.

_Puzzle? When are cards like a puzzle?_ Yugi wondered.

_Puzzle. . .wait! Grandpa once said, "Duel Monsters only contains one unstoppable monster, Exodia the Forbidden One. But he can only be summoned by drawing all five special cards. A feat that, to this very day, no one has ever accomplished,"_ Tori quoted.

"Quit your stalling, Yugi," Kaiba snapped, bringing Yugi and Tori back to the real world. "Or you will be forced to forfeit the match."

"I never forfeit," Yugi snapped as he drew a card from his deck, which turned out to be the 2nd Arm of the Forbidden One. "Huh?" he asked in surprise, then smiled. "Another piece of the puzzle," he murmured.

"Draw any card you like, it won't change a thing," Kaiba proclaimed. My dragons may be frozen for another two turns, but my new monster is under no such spell." He played another monster card. "The Judge Man, with an attack power of 2200/1500."

A giant monster with a mace appears on the field and attacks and destroys Yugi's latest defending monster. Yugi winced and drew another card from his deck.

"I can attack with the Dark Magician," he said to himself as he placed the card on the field. "But he won't stand a chance once Kaiba's dragons are free of my spell."

The Dark Magician appeared on the field, complete with green staff.

"Dark Magician, attack!" Yugi commanded. A bolt of black lightning flew from the Magician's staff, dissolving the other monster.

**Kaiba: 1000**

**Yugi: 900**

"Judge Man falls," Tori sighed quietly in relief.

"Ah, a sacrifice that doesn't even phase me," Kaiba said as he drew another card. "And though neither dragon can move for one more turn, my next card is. . .the third Blue Eyes White Dragon!"

Yugi let out a hiss of horror and frustration and Tori gasped as the third dragon joined its twins on the field.

"Now, my dragon, attack!" Kaiba shouted; the dragon evaporated the Dark Magician in a ball of light, depleting Yugi's Life Points even more.

**Kaiba: 1000**

**Yugi: 400**

"So, tell me, Yugi, where's your faith now?" Kaiba taunted. "On my next turn, all three Blue Eyes White Dragons will be free to attack. You can't possibly stand against my three dragons; it's over, Yugi. You were never a match for me."

"Don't listen to him, Yugi!" Joey called.

"You can do it," Tori murmured to her brother. On the platform, however, Yugi was starting to panic and doubt himself.

_Kaiba had three Blue Eyes all along,_ Yugi thought frantically. _He only wanted my grandpa's card so it couldn't be used against him._

_Your only chance now is to assemble all the pieces of Exodia,_ Tori added softly.

_But the odds are against me,_ Yugi protested. _I don't think I can do this._ He reached for the deck to draw again, but it moved away the slightest bit. _The deck! It senses my doubt!_ He realized, panicking even more.

_**Don't lose focus, Yugi. Don't lose faith,**_ a strong, deep voice told him quietly. _**Concentrate!**_

Yugi shook his head and looked at his hands in confusion. _What?_ He noticed the mark on his hand and his eyes widened. _Our friendship symbol!_

(Again, you guys've seen the ep, you know what's coming, Yugi's in another world again.)

Tea, Tristan, Joey, Cali, and Tori appeared next to him.

"Yugi, we're right here with you," Tea said with a smile.

"Yugi, you've gotta believe in yourself," Tristan chided him gently.

"You can do it," Joey encouraged. "Just kick Kaiba's butt."

"Go for it, big brother," Cali cheered.

"We're here for you," Tori smiled.

_They're right,_ Yugi thought. _I've got to believe in the cards like my friends and sisters believe in me_.

"Draw your last pathetic card so I can end this, Yugi," Kaiba commanded.

"My grandpa's deck has no pathetic cards, Kaiba. But it does contain. . ." Yugi held up a card and smiled. "The unstoppable Exodia the Forbidden One!"

"Impossible!" Kaiba gasped, recoiling.

"I've assembled all special cards," Yugi said. "All five pieces of the puzzle."

Yugi placed the cards on the platform and a blue star appeared on the field, producing a gigantic Egyptian-themed monster with broken chains around this limbs and neck.

"Exodia! It's not possible! No one's ever been able to call him!" Kaiba cried, shrinking back even further.

"Exodia, Obliterate!" Yugi commanded the colossus. Golden energy flowed from the giant's hands and spread around the field, instantly vaporizing the Blue Eyes' and wiping out Kaiba's Life Points.

**Kaiba: 0**

**Yugi: 400**

"You did it!" Joey whooped. "Yugi, you won!"

Tori merely smiled proudly and nodded in approval.

"This can't be," Mokuba gasped from the other sideline. "My brother never loses!"

"You only play for power, Kaiba, and that is why you lost," Tori said, stepping up to join her brother on the platform.

"But if you put your heart in the game," Yugi added. "Then there's nothing you can't do."

Kaiba was frantically puzzling over his defeat on the other platform, too confused to hear the Muto twins' words.

"But. . .but how? How could I have lost to him?!" he muttered to himself aloud.

"Kaiba, if you truly want to know," Tori said as a glowing Egyptian eye appeared on Yugi's and her own foreheads.

". . .Open your mind!" Yugi said, pointing at Kaiba. Unseen to anyone else, Kaiba's eyes turned completely black for a second; then the black shattered, unveiling his dark blue eyes once more as he fell to his knees, still on his platform.

"There, Kaiba," Yugi said as he and Tori turned away to join Joey on the main part of the floor, "maybe now you will begin to see. . ."

* * *

(Scene change 3; Cali's P.O.V.)

Tristan, Tea, and I sat in Gramp's hospital room, waiting for him to wake up. _I'll level with you guys; when I saw Gramps lying on the floor like that, I almost had a heart attack. I've never been more scared in my entire life; I honestly thought that we might lose him. . .*sigh* yes, I'm more sensitive than I let on. But don't go blabbing to Joey or Tristan, alright? I love all of my pals and sibs, but the guys'll tease me for being emotional nonstop._

I watched the bed anxiously, alternately praying to the gods to help Gramps and hoping Yugi kicked Kaiba's rich, sorry ass to the curb. As I just switched from the former to the latter(the 1st to the 2nd), Gramps opened his eyes.

"Huh?" he blinked in confusion. I was so happy, I felt like doing cartwheels up and down the hospital hallway; well, either that or crying a lake the size of Great Britain. But I wasn't about to turn into a crybaby around my friends.

"Gramps, you're awake!" I shouted happily, giving him a big bear hug.

"Yugi won," he said to us, and I smiled even bigger.

* * *

(Tori's P.O.V.)

_When Joey, Yugi, and I left Kaiba, his little brother Mokuba was trying to get him to come down off the platform; who would've thought that a snake like Kaiba had a little brother? I definitely didn't. We arrived at the hospital and caught Grandpa, Cali, and the others on the way out, Grandpa in perfect condition._

_To celebrate, we went back to the shop and had sundaes and a mini-dueling tournament. Yugi and I wound up facing off; my brother won, of course. And, of course, Grandpa kicked out Tea and the guys later so we could go to bed._

_We had no idea about what we'd be faced with the next day. . ._

* * *

And that's all for now, guys! I'll see you here again sometime for chapter 3. In the meantime, R+R, k? And no flames, please!


	3. The Gauntlet Is Thrown

Hey, guys! Due to popular demand, I'm uploading this chapter ASAP; lucky for you guys I just finished my Pokémon story and I've got more time to update. Anyway, I hope you'll all enjoy this latest chapter. Disclaimer: Nyx'sBlackRose doesn't own anything from Yu-Gi-Oh!, although I'd love to buy the rights to Seto, Valon, and Yami Bakura if I could.

* * *

Chapter 3: The Gauntlet is Thrown

(Tori's P.O.V)

_Over the next few days after my brother's defeat of Kaiba, kids swarmed around our little group to watch us play Duel Monsters; Joey was improving slightly as the days went on, but he still had a lot to learn._

* * *

"Joey, make a move already," Tristan said impatiently from the sidelines.

Joey scowled at him and slapped a monster down onto the desktop. "Okay, here you go, tough guy," he said proudly. "My Rock Ogre(800/1200)'s gonna rock your block off!"

"Hmm. . ." Tea, his opponent, murmured thoughtfully before picking a card and setting it in defense mode.

"Yeah, Tea, like that wimpy card has a chance against my giant rock guy," Joey gloated. "Give it up!"

"I guess I don't stand a chance," Tea held up a magic card. "Unless maybe I use the Breath of Life card."

Joey blinked in surprise. "Huh?" He turned to Yugi and I. "Can she do that?" he asked us.

We nodded together. "Oh yeah, the Breath of Life wears down rock monsters," Yugi confirmed.

"It reduces them to rubble," Cali added with a smirk.

"Ahh!" Joey yelped as the magic card destroyed his Ogre.

"That brings your Life Points down to zero, Joey," Tea said. "Once again you lose, and I rock!"

"You stink at this game!" Tristan hooted, high-fiving Cali. Yugi and I shook our heads at each other and sweatdropped as Joey started fighting with them.

* * *

Joey, Yugi, and I went and hung out at the school playground a bit before going home so Joey could talk with us; he perched on top of one of the chin-up bars while Yugi rested his head on the one beside him. I took a seat on one of the swings to Joey's other side as he talked.

"Tristan and Cal are right, guys, I do stink," Joey sighed miserably. "I can't win at Duel Monsters to save my life. What is it, guys? Why can I never win? Teach me what I'm doing wrong!"

Yugi and I exchanged a look, then got up and turned to Joey. "Well, let's start by checking your deck, Joey," Yugi suggested.

"Huh? 'Kay," Joey said, pulling out his deck and giving it to us. "Here you go."

Yugi and I flipped through the cards; there wasn't much variety in Joey's deck. Every single card was a monster card!

_Time to play deck doctor,_ I thought to Yugi.

"Powerhouse liner, don't you think?" Joey asked proudly. We sweatdropped together.

"No one could win with these," I sighed.

"Joey, your deck is filled with nothing but monster cards!" Yugi said as he gave Joey back his deck.

Joey nodded and grinned as he tucked the cards back into his jacket pocket. "You got it! I packed it with every butt-kicking monster I could find," he told us.

"But that's not how the game works," we protested together.

Joey blinked at us in confusion. "Huh?"

"Duel Monsters is all about combining your monsters with Magic and Trap cards to increase their strength," Yugi started.

"With no magic or traps in your deck, your monsters will be creamed every time," I finished, shaking my head.

Joey put a hand on one of each of our shoulders. "Hah! See? That's the kinda stuff I need to know! Yugi, Tori, you gotta help me learn more!" he begged us.

"Uh. . ." we exchanged looks and sweatdropped a little.

* * *

_We were good Duelists, but only because of our teacher, Grandpa. So we took Joey to him so he could get the same training we had._

* * *

"Grandpa's the real gaming expert in the family," Yugi said as we entered the shop. "Maybe he can help you."

As we came in, Grandpa was hanging a poster of a Red Eyes Black Dragon fighting a Luster Soldier, advertising a new set of cards, on doubt. Cali was behind the counter, unpacking boxes of new cards.

"Hey, Grandpa," I called as we came in, "We brought you a new student!"

Grandpa and Cali turned to look at us at my words.

"Huh? Student?" Grandpa asked.

"Don't tell me the idiot actually came for lessons," Cali laughed, resting her chin in her hands and her elbows on the counter.

Joey squirmed under everyone's gaze. "I was hoping, since you know more about Duel Monsters than everyone, maybe you'd teach me," he said, looking down at the floor.

"Teach you?" Grandpa asked. "Duel Monsters is a very complex game."

"Yeah, tell me about it," Joey agreed. "Tea beat me three games in a row."

"Actually, Tea beat you five games in a row, Joey," Yugi broke to him gently.

"Five? _Really_?! Aww man," Joey groaned. Cali just laughed harder.

"Hmm, yes," Grandpa said, studying Joey closely. "I could teach you to be a great tournament Duelist. But only if you're willing to spend endless days and sleepless nights filled with rigorous training."

"Ah, piece of cake," Joey said with a grin.

"With an attitude like that, teaching you may not be worth my effort," Grandpa huffed, turning his back on Joey.

"Ah!" Joey yelped, falling over. Yugi and I sweatdropped.

"Nice going there, smartmouth," Cali said with a smirk, her laughter dying down quickly. "Even I don't do that when I ask Gramps for help."

Joey knelt down in front of us and Cali and clasped his hands together. "Yugi, Tori, Cali; please, help me convince him," he begged us. "I will work hard, I promise!"

The three of us exchanged looks before Yugi spoke up. "Listen, Joey, teaching your Duel Monsters is too big a challenge, even for our Grandpa," he said.

Grandpa turned back around and examined Joey again. "Hmm. . .it's not impossible," he said.

Joey looked up hopefully. "Huh? You mean it, Gramps?" he asked.

"Joey, he said he can't do it," Cali said, winking at us. "And if he can't do it, he can't do it."

"I never said I couldn't do it," Grandpa protested. "But if I agree, you must promise to work hard."

"I'll do anything, I promise. I promise!" Joey said quickly, standing back up.

"Fine, then we'll begin your instruction immediately, my young friend," Grandpa said to him. "And believe me, under my tutelage, you will learn. Now, can you name the most powerful Duel Monster?"

"Uh. . .no?" Joey answered sheepishly.

"Can you name the weakest?"

". . .Noooo,"

"You do know what a trap card is, don't you?"

Kinda. . .I have no idea," Joey admitted, scratching the back of his head. Yugi, Cali, Grandpa and I sweatdropped.

_Yeah, he's got a _long_ way to go._

* * *

_Joey ended up coming and staying over longer in the next few weeks so Grandpa could teach him the basics and finer points of Duel Monsters; Cali, of course, called Tea and Tristan over so they could watch-and so Cali and Tristan could heckle-Joey's training. Everyone ended up staying even longer because the finals of the Duel Monsters Regional Championship were being televised that night, and on one wanted to miss it._

* * *

"Good evening, duel fans and our ten million viewers at home, and welcome to the Duel Monsters Duel Dome, where tonight, the Duel Monsters Regional Championship will be decided. Of the two hundred Duelists who have competed in this marathon tournament, only two competitors remain standing. Put your cards together for Weevil Underwood, the Bug Brawler. His opponent, the number one ranked, Rex Raptor, Dino Duelist!" The announcer introduced as the Duelists made their way onto the arena platforms.

In the living room, Yugi and I shared the couch; Tea and Tristan sat on stools on either side of us, and Joey and Cali sprawled out on the floor in front of us.

"Bug Boy vs. Dino Man, what kind of match is that?" Joey complained. "That should've been me in there!"

"I know you've been training for weeks, but those guys are in another league," Tea told him. "You're just not ready yet."

"Sure, rub it in," Joey grumbled, laying flat on the floor and pouting.

"And on top of that, you're so tired you can't even keep your eyes open!" Yugi added.

This time, Joey was quiet for once. We should've figured he fell asleep before we heard him snore. We laughed together.

"I think Grandpa's lessons have been a bit too tough for him," I chuckled sympathetically.

_Over the past few weeks, Grandpa's gotten a little overzealous with Joey's lessons, making him shuffle his deck until he's so tired he could drop, and making him memorize endless amounts of card stats. We've tried to help, but we're not doing much good._

"See, it's true what they say," Tristan said, gesturing to Joey. "You snooze, you lose."

Joey woke up and growled at Tristan and Cali as they laughed at him, the rest of us trying to hide our smiles.

"I must've been nuts to think I could ever learn this crazy game!" he groaned, sitting up and rubbing the back of his head.

"Time for your lesson!" Grandpa said, entering the room with a large box in his hands.

Joey fell over in surprise. "What? We're not done?!" he asked.

"Not by a long shot, you slacker," Grandpa replied. Joey groaned as he sat up.

"Now quit your whining, Joseph," Grandpa scolded. "I know you've been working long and hard, but you really are coming along as a Duelist. And I'm quite proud of you."

Joey stood up and grinned, his eyes tearing up a little. "Gramps. Thank you!" he said, trying to hug Grandpa; who dodged easily and made his way over to Yugi and I on the couch. Poor Joey fell over flat on his face, leaving Cali and Tristan to laugh at him. Again.

"Oh, by the way, Yugi," Grandpa says, handing him the box, "This package came for you."

We exchanged curious looks. "A package? What is it, Gramps?" Yugi asked.

"I don't know; it just came in the mail," Grandpa replied. We exchanged looks again and I pulled the box over to me to get a good look at it; I noticed a return slip taped to the top of the box.

"It's from Industrial Illusions," I said after I read it.

"Industrial Illusions! That's the company that makes the Duel Monsters game!" Joey said as he walked over and stood behind us for his own look at the box. "Why the heck would they be sending you a package, Yugi?" he asked.

"I have no idea," my brother answered with a shrug. "Is it possible they heard I beat the World Champion?"

"You mean. . .Kaiba?" Tea asked, hesitating before saying his name. I didn't blame her; just thinking about Kaiba and that duel was enough to make me feel funny.

Yugi nodded to her in reply. "Yeah. It wasn't an official Duel or anything, but Kaiba did drop out of the tournament because of me."

"Just hearing Kaiba's name gives me a headache," Joey groaned, holding his head.

"Whoa; guys, Raptor just stomped Weevil!" Tristan exclaimed, turning our attention to the TV screen.

"Yugi, Tori, are these guys any good?" Joey asked us. We nodded together.

"Oh, yeah. They're both pretty tough customers. Weevil specializes in Insect cards and he's a great strategist," Yugi started.

"Then you've got Rex Raptor and his Dinosaur cards; he uses their power to overwhelm his opponents." I finished.

"Itsy-bitsy bugs against dueling dinosaurs? Raptor's got this one in the bag," Joey said with a snort.

"I wouldn't be too sure, Jo," Cali said to him as the duel went on.

"All right, Weevil, consider yourself dino chow!" Raptor proclaimed as he slapped a monster card down on the platform. A giant purple dinosaur with two heads, wings, and lots of sharp teeth and claws appeared on the field and roared.

"Oh! And Raptor plays the strongest card in his deck, the terrible Two-Headed King Rex(1600/1200)! Looks like this match could be over right here, right now!"

"Your move," Raptor said to Weevil.

"All I have is this weak little bug," Weevil said as he played Basic Insect(500/700) on the field.

"Weevil counters with the Basic Insect card," the announcer said.

"He plays a wimpy bug against a giant dinosaur? The place'll be covered in bug guts," Joey laughed.

"Maybe, but neither of us would underestimate Weevil," I spoke up.

"King Rex, let's take this Championship; stomp 'em!" Raptor ordered with a smirk.

"You've attacked your way into my trap!" Weevil laughed evilly. "But then, how could your tiny dinosaur brain know that when an enemy attacks, my vortex activates?"

"Oh no; it's a Trap card!" Raptor exclaimed in horror.

"Which totally traps your King Rex in its inescapable embrace," Weevil said.

"No; my King Rex," Raptor groaned. King Rex was caught in a large gust of wind that prevented him from moving.

"And while he's trapped there, I'll upgrade my Basic Insect by giving him Insect Armor with Laser Cannon!" Weevil said, holding up an Equip Spell before placing it on the platform. A piece of dark green armor with a silver and red laser cannon mounted on it appeared on the Basic Insect's back, making its ATK points rise. (Basic Insect 500+700=1200 ATK)

"Not such a wimpy little bug after all, hmmm? Attack!" Weevil ordered his monster. A red beam shot out of the Basic Insect's cannon, destroying King Rex and leaving Raptor with no Life Points.

"No!" Raptor cried.

"That King Rex is extinct," Weevil said with a laugh.

"Aww. Big bad bug," Raptor grumbled with a scowl.

"A stunning upset by Weevil Underwood, our newest Champion!" The announcer exclaimed. Weevil smirked and held his deck up in triumph.

"Man, King Rex squashed by an Insect?" Joey asked, stunned.

"And now, a special honor for our new champion, here to present the Duel Monsters Championship trophy, the creator of Duel Monsters and the president of Industrial Illusions. Ladies, gentlemen, and fellow Duelists, I give you Maximillion Pegasus!"

A man with long white hair covering at least half of his face was lifted by a platform onto the stage, holding a big gold trophy, which he presented to Weevil with a bow.

"Congratulations," he said simply.

"Uh, thank you," Weevil replied, reaching for the trophy.

As soon as the Tournament ended, the Tv was shut off and all attention was on the box Yugi received.

"What could it be?" Yugi wondered as he opened the package. Inside, there was a single red and white fingerless glove, two little gold stars, and a video tape with no label.

"Huh?" we asked together in surprise.

"Some kind of glove. . ." Tea murmured picking the glove up to examine it more closely.

"And stars," Joey added, holding a star up to examine.

"Maybe there's an explanation on the video," Tristan suggested.

"Pop it in and check it out," Cali added.

Yugi and I nodded to them; I picked up the tape and popped it into our VCR and pressed **Play**. The screen was covered in static for a minute, then cleared to reveal Pegasus's face!

"Greetings, little Yugi," he said. "I am Maximillion Pegasus."

"Pegasus?" Joey asked in surprise.

"We just saw him on Tv!" Tea said.

"The famous Maximillion Pegasus sends greetings to my Yugi?" Gramps asked in astonishment.

"I have heard some terribly interesting things about you, Yugi," Pegasus said.

"Huh?" we asked together in surprise, looking at each other. _What does he mean?_ I wondered.

"Your present defeat of Seto Kaiba intrigued me so much, I've decided to investigate your amazing Dueling skills personally," Pegasus said. "Right here, right now, we shall hold a special duel. We'll play with a strict time-limit of fifteen minutes, and when time's up, the player with the highest Life Points will be the winner. Are you ready?"

"What?" Yugi asked, confused and a little flustered.

"What? He can't seriously expect you to fight a Duel against a video tape!" Joey exclaimed.

"That's crazy," Tristan added.

Pegasus chuckled and pulled back the curtain of hair from the left side of his face, revealing the same kind of golden eye that was on our Millennium items! It glowed as Pegasus spoke.

"No, it's magic."

"Huh?" we all asked together. All the light faded out of the room, and Grandpa, Tea, Cali, Joey, and Tristan stopped moving and became shadows.

"Everything's getting cold and dark, and the others aren't moving," I murmured worriedly to my brother.

"What have you done to them? Where have you taken us?" Yugi demanded.

"We're no longer in the world you know," Pegasus laughed evilly. "But I'll return you. . .after our game."

* * *

(3rd Person P.O.V.)

"Then it's time to duel!" Yugi and Tori's eyes narrowed together as gold light surrounded them. When the light faded away, their older counterparts were in their places.

"Start the clock and make your move, Pegasus," Yugi ordered.

"Certainly," Pegasus said. "Let's begin." The timer on the VCR glowed, reading **15:00**, as they drew their first hands.

**Pegasus: 2000**

**Yugi: 2000**

"Nervous, Yugi-boy? You should be. You have never faced a Duelist like me before," Pegasus said.

"You may be good," Tori said.

"I assure your brother and yourself that I am, Tori-girl," Pegasus said to her.

"But I will beat you to save my friends," Yugi finished.

Pegasus's gold eye glowed. "You won't save anyone with that Dragon card," he said dismissively.

Yugi stared down at his hand in shock. "How?" he asked.

"I told you, you've never faced anyone like me before," Pegasus told him. "I know every move you make; before you make it."

Yugi glared but played the card anyway. (Koumori Dragon 1500/1200) To their surprise, the Dragon appeared on the field in all its purple and red scaled, sharp-toothed glory in front of them!

"Knowing every move you'll make gives me a distinct advantage, wouldn't you say?" Pegasus asked. "For example, I can anticipate your next play and counter it with this Dragon Capture Jar." He held up a Trap card.

Yugi growled in frustration while Tori looked on worriedly.

"It will draw the Koumori Dragon from your card and imprison the beast. Trapped. Never to be played against me." Pegasus went on with a smirk. He placed the card on the field, producing a clay jar with a dragon's face etched into it; the Koumori Dragon disappeared into the jar.

_This is crazy,_ Yugi thought. _First he reads my mind, then he brings the monster on my card to life!_

"This dark dimension we're in is known as the Shadow Realm, a mystical place where incredible monsters can be summoned and the impossible is quite possible," Pegasus explained.

"But what you're telling us can't be true," Tori protested.

"Tell me Yugi, Tori; do you two believe there is magic in these cards?" he asked them.

"Don't you know? You invented this game," Yugi answered.

"What if I told you I didn't?" Pegasus asked.

Yugi and Tori's eyes widened in surprise. "Huh?"

"In ancient times, the Egyptians called this the Shadow Game. Powerful fellows would hold duels in mystical dimensions just as we're doing now," Pegasus explained to them. "But not with cards. They battled with real monsters and real magic. Magical forces so powerful, the Egyptians lost control of them and nearly destroyed the entire world."

"It's a good story, Pegasus, but it can't be true," Yugi said.

"These monsters can't be real," Tori added.

"Tell that to my Dragon Piper(200/1800) as his Flute of Resurrection frees your Koumori Dragon, but puts him under my control." Pegasus retorted as he played another monster; this one looked like a snake charmer with purple and yellow markings, and a yellow flute.

"I have to counterattack! Silver Fang(1200/800)!" Yugi cried, placing a monster on the field. A large silver wolf appeared in front of him and growled at the dragon. The dragon fired a fireball at the wolf and destroyed him.

**Pegasus: 2000**

**Yugi: 1500**

"Hah! As you see, Yugi, these monsters are very real. And also quite dangerous," Pegasus said with an evil laugh. "Ah, Yugi-boy, you really are quite entertaining-the way you and Tori-girl scowl and sneer; so defiant, yet so helpless. And so completely ignorant of the power of your Millennium Puzzle and Disk."

"What?" They asked together in surprise.

"Five thousand years ago, a powerful Pharaoh locked the power of the Shadow Games away-with help from his sister, the Princess."

"What does this have to do with us?" Yugi asked.

"The Pharaoh and Princess captured these vast magical energies in eight mystical Millennium Items." Pegasus told them.

"Eight items? You're saying that. . .our Puzzle and Disk are two of them?" Tori asked, looking down at her necklace.

"Yes, and there are mystical energies locked within each of them. Magic that could change your lives forever. . .if you only knew how to unleash it," Pegasus said.

"But why are you telling us this?" Yugi asked him.

"Why? Simply because I need you to know. But perhaps I have said too much. And since the clock is still ticking, I purpose we resume playing our little duel."

_He's right,_ Yugi thought, looking over his hand. _Time's running out and we still haven't figured out if he can really read our minds or if it's some kind of trick._

Unknown to either of the twins, Pegasus's gold eyes glowed and showed a hint of an image of a skeleton; again, without either of the twin's knowledge of it, Yugi's eyes held the same image for a second before it disappeared.

_I've gotta try something. Maybe my Zombie Warrior!_ He held the card in his other hand, ready to play it on the field. Pegasus just smirked at him.

_Wait a minute, bro,_ Tori stopped him. _He definitely knows what you're about to do. But how?_

Yugi frowned at Pegasus, studying him closely_. It's gotta have something to do with that weird eye of his,_ he mused. _That's it, isn't it? That weird eye must somehow let him see the cards in my hand. So no matter which card I pick, he's already one step ahead of me._

_But that gives me an idea,_ Tori added with a slight smile.

"Hurry up now, Yugi-boy. Time is running out for you and your friends," Pegasus warned.

_My guess is that he's expecting you to play one of the cards in your hand_, Tori thought to her brother. _But what if you play a card you haven't even seen yet? What happens if you draw a new card straight from the deck without even looking at it?_

Yugi's eyes widened in surprise, then he gave his sister a hint of a smile.

"I already know you plan to play the Zombie Warrior, and I'm already prepared to counter it with a Trap card that makes even zombies lie down and play dead," Pegasus said.

"Not this time," Yugi said as he and Tori smirked. "We figured out your little game, Pegasus. You may be able to see the cards in my hand, but you can't see the cards I pull from my deck!"

Pegasus's eyes narrowed slightly. "Hmm?"

"My next card is. . .the Dark Magician(2500/2100)!" Yugi said, playing the card as the magician appeared on the field.

"Whoa, the big, scary Dark Magician," Pegasus said sarcastically.

"Mock us all you like, Pegasus," Tori said. "But the Magician will destroy that dragon."

"Go right ahead, if you think it'll help," Pegasus said with a shrug.

"It'll do more than help, Pegasus," Yugi said. "It'll bring you closer to defeat and bring me closer to saving my friends."

"If it can do all that, by all means, attack with it," Pegasus said.

"Dark Magician! Dark Magic Attack!" Yugi called. Dark Magician raised his staff and a black of dark magic destroyed Koumori Dragon.

**Pegasus: 1200**

**Yugi: 1500**

"Nicely played; but by using your Dark Magician, you've let me manipulate you once again," Pegasus laughed.

"Huh?" Yugi and Tori asked together.

"By playing that one card, you have ensured my victory."

"No!" Yugi growled and Tori gasped.

"We shall see, Yugi," Pegasus said as he drew a card from his deck. He gasped in mock surprise. "Oh, a very rare card!" he exclaimed, playing it on the field. A three headed doll-like monster appeared on the field; the head on the left looked like a girl doll's head, and the one on the right looked like a boy doll's; but the most surprising was the middle head. It didn't have any features besides a mouth.

"This is the fearsome Faceless Mage(1200/2200)!" Pegasus said.

"I've never seen that card before," Tori remarked.

"But my Dark Magician is one of the strongest cards in the game," Yugi reassured her.

"But how will he fare once I combine my Faceless Mage with the equally rare Eye of Illusion?" Pegasus asked, holding up a Spell card before playing it.

"Dark Magician, Dark Magic Attack!" Yugi commanded. The Magician raised his staff again and another ball of dark magic flew from it towards the Mage. The Mage held up a glowing gold eye like Pegasus's and stopped the attack.

"Dark Magician!" Yugi cried. _My attack had no effect at all!_

Pegasus laughed.

_His Faceless Mage should've been destroyed,_ Tori thought worriedly. _But it's still standing and we're running out of time._

Tori only began to panic even more as she caught a glimpse of the VCR timer: **5:00**.

_I'm up by 300 Life Points, but only because Pegasus is toying with me,_ Yugi thought, catching her attention. _We've gotta find a way to beat him at his own Shadow Game._ He glared at Pegasus.

Tori nodded slightly, calming down a little and focusing. _Pegasus knows all kinds of tricks; we gotta find a way to defeat him. We need to trust in Grandpa's cards._

Yugi drew another card and looked over his hand before playing a monster. "I attack your combo with the Celtic Guardian(1400/1200)!" he said as the elf warrior appeared on the field.

"This mighty warrior will cut your Mage down to size," Tori said.

"True, your elf is mighty, but you have once again underestimated the incredible power of my Eye of Illusion!" Pegasus said, laughing.

Dark Magician appeared on Pegasus's side of the field with the Eye's symbol hovering over his head.

"No!" Yugi and Tori cried together.

"Dark Magic Attack!" Pegasus commanded. A blast of dark magic flew at Celtic Guardian, destroying him and reducing Yugi's Life Points.

**Pegasus: 1200**

**Yugi: 400**

"But that's impossible!" Yugi protested. "The Faceless Mage doesn't have a Dark Magic Attack." Yugi and Tori's eyes widened.

_It was my own Dark Magician that attacked me,_ Yugi realized as Dark Magician appeared on the other side of the field with the Eye of Illusion's symbol hovering over him.

_Pegasus is controlling him with the Eye of Illusion,_ Tori agreed. _But if he's using magic to control the Magician, what's controlling his Mage?_

"Well, Yugi, our time together is nearly up, and as I have more Life Points than you, it appears I am the victor," Pegasus said as the VCR timer read **0:05**.

"Time's not up yet, Pegasus," Yugi said. "And you've left your Faceless Mage vulnerable to a physical assault." He held up a monster card before playing it on the field. A bony minster with wings and horns appeared to the field. Pegasus scowled.

"Summoned Skull(2500/1200), attack!" Yugi commanded. Lightning flew from the fiend's claws, but the timer reached **0:00 **before it hit the Mage, ending the duel.

"Well, we've run out of time," Pegasus tsked. "But how close was that? If you had been able to complete the attack, I would have lost. But I didn't, did I? I have taken the measure of your talents this day, Yugi Muto. And when next we duel, we shall play for far higher stakes."

"We're done with your games," Tori growled at him.

"You presume I'm giving you a choice in the matter," Pegasus said. "But I'm not, for I too possess one of the eight Millennium Items: the all-powerful Millennium Eye!"

"A Millennium Eye?" Yugi asked incredulously.

"That's right, Yugi-boy," Pegasus answered. "And now I'll show you the true extent of its magic. You see, I have found that-given the proper incentive-anyone can be made to play my game." His Millennium Eye glowed, and silver light erupted from Solomon, disappearing into the Tv screen.

"Huh?" Yugi and Tori asked together in shock.

Solomon's image flickered across the screen for a second. "Yugi! Tori!" he cried.

Gold light surrounded the Muto twins for a second; when it cleared, they were their old selves again.

* * *

(Tori's P.O.V.)

"Grandpa!" Yugi and I cried together.

"Yes, we will duel again, Yugi. How else will you reclaim your grandfather's soul?" Pegasus laughed. That jerk! Talk about a sore winner. Around us, Cali, and the guys became mobile again; but Grandpa's body just fell over. The guys tried to question us about what happened, but we were still shocked about what had happened.

"Grandpa! Grandpa! Grandpa!"

_And that was our prelude to Duelist Kingdom. . . ._

* * *

Well, that's done. *sighs and wraps fingers in bandages* I hope you all enjoyed it! Took me at least five days to put together. . . .oh, and I start school on the 29th, so my updates might be fewer and farther in-between; but I'll make sure I update some time! I won't let you guys down. Now, R+R, and no flames, please!


	4. Journey to Duelist Kingdom

Hey, guys! Sorry for the wait; I've been busy with school stuff, so I won't bore you with a long intro piece. Here's the latest chapter; enjoy! Disclaimer: I don't own a thing from Yu-Gi-Oh! besides Tori and Cali.

* * *

Chapter 4: Journey to Duelist Kingdom

_Since Grandpa's soul was taken, Yugi, Cali, and I took care of things at the shop, working for a bit after school and training often to keep our skills sharp. Of course, Yugi wanted to challenge Pegasus again to win back Grandpa's soul; I agreed with him, but as much as I wanted to duel him, I thought it would be a better idea to wait and try to research the Millennium Items to see if the Eye had any weaknesses. Sadly, I looked but didn't find a thing about any of the items Pegasus mentioned, leaving us back at square one, with no choice but to enter the Tournament.  
_

* * *

(Tori's P.O.V.)

During recess, Yugi and I went outside for once, leaning against the basketball court's fence and staring out at the rest of Domino.

_How did we get into this mess?_ Yugi wondered. _I can't believe Grandpa's actually gone._

I nodded my agreement. _One minute he's right beside us, and the next, Pegasus shows up and uses some sort of weird magic to steal his soul away. But why? What could Pegasus possibly want with us? And could it have something to do with our Millennium Items?_ I held my pendant in my hand tightly.

_I'll get Grandpa back,_ Yugi vowed. _I'll beat Pegasus at his own game; whatever that is._

* * *

_After school, Yugi, Cali, and I walked home together; we'd gotten a little closer since everything started happening._

"Huh? What's that?" Cali asked, noticing something on the shop door. She raced ahead of us and plucked it off the door; it turned out to be a package in brown wrapping paper.

"It's from Pegasus," she said in surprise as she looked it over. When we caught up to her, she opened it. The package had Duel Monster cards inside; Yugi lifted one out to get a good look.

"Huh?" he said. I took it from him and looked at it myself.

"It's an invitation to the Duelist Kingdom Tournament!" I exclaimed.

* * *

_We broke the news to the others the next day at school._

"A tournament at Duelist Kingdom? Isn't that an island?" Tea asked.

"So, that's where Pegasus is keeping your Grandpa?" Joey asked.

"Maybe. The only way to know for sure is to become a contestant," Yugi said.

"The boat's going to be leaving in two days," I added.

"But you can't go," Cali protested, flipping through the cards Pegasus sent. "It could be dangerous."

"I have to go," Yugi said. "It's the only clue I have for rescuing Grandpa."

"Don't even think you're leaving me behind, big brother," I added, giving him my best glare. He looked like he was going to protest, but he ended up not answering.

"I still can't believe it," Tristan butted in. "Pegasus uses some kind of weird spell to grab your Grandpa's soul. And now he's toying with you, forcing you to duel in the Tournament."

"Right," Joey agreed. "And without invitations, we can't even go there with you. I wish we could help you, pal."

"This is bad," Tea murmured worriedly.

Tristan picked one of the cards from Cali's hand and looked it over. "Hey, Yugi, Tori, check this out," he said, turning the card so we could see it. "According to this card, the Tournament winner takes a grand prize of three million dollars."

"Three mill?" Joey asked in astonishment.

"So what, Tristan?" Cali snapped at him. "Who cares about money at a time like this?"

"Hey, gimmie that," Joey said, snatching the card out of Tristan's hand to look himself. "Ahh, three million."

"I guess Joey does," Tea said as we sweatdropped.

"Three million. In cold cash," Joey said, a thoughtful look spreading across his face.

* * *

_Yugi and I went out to the basketball court again at recess the next day; we found Joey standing along the fence there._

"Joey? What're you doing out here?" Yugi asked as we approached him.

"Hmmm?" Joey blinked and turned to look at us.

"What's with you?" I asked, frowning slightly in concern.

"Ah, nothing," Joey sighed, shaking his head. "I'm just thinking about a whole lot of stuff. Guys, you do know that I care about your Gramps, right? I mean, he taught me about the Heart of the Cards."

"Of course we know," Yugi answered for both of us.

"I mean it," Joey went on. "One way or another, I'll help you beat Pegasus."

We nodded and smiled at him. "That really means a lot to both of us, Joey." Yugi said.

"We're both glad we're friends," I added.

"The truth is, you guys, Tristan, and Cali are the best friends I've ever had," Joey admitted to us. We exchanged smiles, knowing how hard it was for our tough guy buddy to say something like that aloud.

"Yeah! Too bad you can't go with us to rescue Grandpa," Yugi replied.

"Don't worry," Joey assured us, "Somehow, some way, I promise we'll do it together."

Our eyes widened in surprise. "Together?!" we asked, stunned.

Joey nodded. "You bet. Guys, we're a team."

"But how can you go without an invitation?" I asked him. A thoughtful expression crossed Joey's face.

"Hmmm. . ." he murmured to himself.

* * *

_The days seemed to pass like seconds, and soon it came time for the Tournament; I had managed to talk Yugi into letting me come with him, sure that there was no rule against a contestant bringing a supporter. Cali, on the other hand, went with Tea and Tristan another way-whatever that was, since she wouldn't tell me anything else._

Yugi and I reached the Domino Pier just in time; the docks were flooded with competitors, who were gathered around a large white cruise ship. There were also a lot of guys in black suits that seemed to be in charge.

"Attention all Duelists," One of them said, catching our attention, "Welcome to this event sponsored by Industrial Illusions. You received with your invitation the Star Chips that will grant you entry into the contest. You are elite, invited by us after close observation of your past Duel Monster contests. You each have a fair and equal chance to win; it all comes down to how well you've chosen your cards and how well you play. Now then, Duelists, cross the ocean and enter the Duelist Kingdom."

The suits, as I thought of them, that were guarding the ship's gangplank cleared the way and began letting the competitors aboard.

"Present your Star Chips as you board the vessel," a second suit said as the contestants passed him. At the top of the plank a third suit stood, examining Star Chips.

"Thank you; next." He told each one in turn, letting them go on.

"Hey, you, get out of here. Only official contestants are allowed on board," a fourth on the dock called to a blond teen in the crowd. Wait, a blond teen?

_Oh no,_ I thought. _You don't think. . ._

Yugi turned to look; his eyes widened as he caught a look at the teen. _It is!_

I whirled around to look for myself; yep, there was Joey standing on the dock among the other Duelists.

_Joey!? What the-_ I thought, stunned.

"How do you know I'm not official?" Joey asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Because the official Duelists aren't trying to sneak onboard through the lower hatches," the suit answered, making us sweatdrop. Another pair of suits grabbed Joey's arms and began to drag him away.

"Stop your struggling," one of them ordered as Joey squirmed in their grip. "We're going to have to throw you out."

"No way," Joey protested. "I came here to duel and I'm gonna duel." We stepped forward together and went to Joey's rescue.

"Leave him alone," Yugi said.

"Hey Yugi, Tori," Joey greeted us.

"What's going on here, Joey?" I asked him.

"Ha, did you guys really think I'd let you do this on your own?" he asked us with a grin. "C'mon, help me out."

Yugi and I couldn't help but smile at him.

* * *

(Cali's P.O.V.)

If you guys thought that Tea, Tristan and I would stay behind like a couple of good little kids, you're dead wrong. We snuck to the docks by following Joey, and hid behind a nearby stack of crates while Joey entered the crowd; I sweatdropped as my buddy was caught sneaking into the lower hatches of the ship.

_That's just a pathetic attempt,_ I thought as a pair of suits started dragging him away by the arms.

"They're distracted. Let's go," Tea whispered.

Tristan and I nodded. "Right." We quietly shot from the crates into an open hatch, entering without being caught. I grinned to myself.

_Now _this_ is now you sneak onto a ship!_

* * *

(Tori's P.O.V.)

"He's with us; you've got to let him on," Yugi pleaded with the suit in charge.

"Only people with a Star Chip can get on board," the suit retorted. "There are no exceptions. Understand?"

"But Joey has a Star Chip." I protested. "Didn't he tell you?"

Joey blinked at me. "I do?"

Yugi took one of his Star Chips off his glove and held it up for the suits to see before handing it off to Joey. "See?"

Joey took it in confusion. "What's this?" he asked.

I held up one of the Tournament cards. "According to this card, a Star Chip's proof that one is a Duelist."

"That may be, but all participants are given two Star Chips; you'll be at a disadvantage," the suit said to Yugi before turning to me. "And since you don't have any Star Chips yourself, you can't duel either, or he'll be out of the Tournament."

I snorted. _Like I'd let a little thing like that stop me._ "I have checked the rules carefully," I said, "And I've seen no rule against siblings entering together and taking turns dueling with Star Chips and a deck shared between them*."

The suit looked flustered as he tried to answer; in the end, he just scowled at me wordlessly. _That's what I thought._

"I might be at a disadvantage, but I'd rather take that risk than be without my friend and my sister when we get to Duelist Kingdom."

Joey's eyes widened in surprise. "Yugi," he said, stunned. I smiled. That's the big brother I know and love.

"What do we do?" one of the other suits asked the head suit. The head suit pulled a cell phone out of his breast pocket and dialed a number before holding it to his ear.

"Mr. Pegasus," he said. "We have a problem."

* * *

(Cali's P.O.V.)

_We hid in the cargo bay in silence for another few minutes, then snuck our way up to the deck(after getting lost a few times thanks to Tristan and his nervousness. 'I think I heard somebody; quick, down that hall!' I swear I'm kicking his ass when we dock.)_

"Whoa!" Tea gasped as she took in the view; I didn't blame her, it was awesome!

"Shh!" Tristan hissed at her. I glared at him.

"Don't you shush me, Tristan," Tea retorted.

"Both of you pipe down," I ordered, yanking them back a little.

* * *

(Tori's P.O.V.)

_After a little talk with their boss, the suits cleared us and let us board the ship. Yugi, Joey, and I looked around for a bit before going onto the deck and leaning against the railing as we took in the view._

"I'm glad they let you on board, Joey," Yugi said. _And you, Sis._ He added. I smiled and nodded to him.

_We would've found another way on board if they'd turned us down,_ I replied.

"Only because you sacrificed one of your Star Chips for me, "Joey answered. "But if any of the other players find out we only have one Star Chip each, they could really try to take advantage of us."

"Then be quiet about it," I suggested.

"Kinda exciting, isn't it, guys?" Joey asked us.

"Yeah," my brother sighed contentedly. I nodded silently.

"Well, what do we have here?" A woman's voice asked from behind us.

"Huh?" we asked together, turning around. A blond woman with purple eyes stood behind us; she looked like one of the usual blondes we'd met before at school: ditzy, self-absorbed, and totally over-confident, not to mention usually popular and the center of attention. It's funny, thought; I never thought I'd see a typical blonde in a Duel Monsters Tournament.

Joey blushed a deep red as he noticed her. "Wow," he murmured under his breath.

_And there goes Joey,_ I sighed to myself, sweatdropping. The blond ignored him, focusing on my big brother; which knocked her down a couple more pegs in my book.

"So you're the Yugi kid everybody's talking about, huh?" she asked him. Despite the blonde's presence, I beamed with pride. Joey grinned at him and nudged his shoulder.

"But I'm amazed that a squirt like you could beat Kaiba. You're famous, you know," she said.

Yugi blushed in embarrassment. "Uh, thanks very much. I think," he said, adding that last part under his breath. I rolled my eyes as Joey pushed his way in front of us.

"Hey miss, I'm a really good friend of Yugi, the Master Duelist. In fact-" he started to say before the blonde cut him off.

"Look, you're either a champ or a chump," she said sharply before turning to my brother. "Cut this guy loose. He's fashion-challenged and deserves to be crushed in the games." She turned and began walking away from us.

I scowled at her back. _Who gave her the right to decide who we hang out with?_ I fumed mentally.

Of course, Joey was out again. "Please crush me," he sighed dreamily.

The blonde looked back at us as Joey spoke. "I'll crush you all eventually. The name's Mai."

* * *

(Cali's P.O.V)

I scowled as the blonde chick walked past our hiding place. Talk about a dumb blonde! My brother would never just drop his friends 'cause someone told him to.

I could tell that Tea was thinking something along the same lines; or it could've been the jealousy showing, whichever.

"Talk about arrogant," Tea growled. "There's nobody better at playing Duel Monsters than Yugi."

"Except maybe Tori," I added. She nodded in agreement.

"Shhh! Quiet, they'll hear you!" Tristan said, still as paranoid as always.

"We don't care, moron," I said in annoyance. "He's still the best."

* * *

(Tori's P.O.V)

We went back inside and looked for our rooms; sadly, it seems that all we got was a big common room that all the contestants had to share between themselves.

"Hey! Is this a joke or what? This is a luxury cruiser. I know you've got better rooms somewhere," Joey said angrily. A pair of suits ran up and grabbed Joey by his collar.

"You again?" one said, recognizing Joey from the docks. "We cut you a break and now you're causing more trouble?"

"Do you want to get thrown out of here?" the other threatened. I talked them into buzzing off just as Weevil and Raptor happened to walk by; lucky us, coughsarcasmcough.

Weevil blinked at us. "Huh? Hey, aren't you that kid Yugi?" he asked my brother.

Yugi blinked back in surprise. "Yeah. And you're-"

"Weevil Underwood," I finished.

"And Rex Raptor the Dino Duelist," Joey added.

"Hah, you're wasting your time with those guys," Raptor scoffed, nodding to the departing suits. "The private rooms only go to champions from the last Tournament, like us."

"Congrats on winning the least Tournament Weevil," Yugi said. I nodded in agreement.

"It was nothing," Weevil said with a shrug.

"Yeah. I went easy on him. That time," Raptor bragged.

"Yeah? Well, this time Yugi and I are going to take the Tournament. Right, Yugi?" Joey said, turning to my brother and I.

"To tell you the truth, winning the last Championship didn't feel like much of an achievement," Weevil admitted. "I guess I can't really call myself a Champion until I defeat the Duelist who beat Kaiba." He looked at my brother. "But I'm sure I'll end up battling you in the big Tournament, Yugi. Frankly, I look forward to it."

"I look forward to it, too," my brother answered as I nodded.

"I'm looking forward to some Dino demolition," Raptor chimed in.

"Let me tell you a little secret," Weevil said to my brother, catching our attention. "It's something none of the other players know about yet."

"Isn't that cheating?" I asked.

"The other Duelists will find out soon enough," Weevil answered dismissively before turning back to my brother. "But there are no rules on the island that require more strategy."

Now I was getting curious. What could Weevil mean?

"Ahh, rules are for wimps," Raptor said dismissively. "In Dueling, you either smash your opponent or get smashed yourself. It's one or the other."

"Strength is good, but you also need to combine them with other types of cards," Joey protested.

"Who asked you?" Raptor snapped at him. "Stay out of my way, or I'll stomp you like everybody else." With that, he turned and walked away from our little group.

"We'll see who stomps who when we get to the island," Joey grumbled, glaring at Raptor's retreating figure.

"Ignore him," Weevil told Joey. "Let's scope out the competition."

Joey blinked at him. "What do ya mean?"

"Check out those chumps," Weevil replied, nodding to the common room. "They're already trading over there. Players here are swapping cards and strengthening their decks, getting ready for the big Tournament. It's also a good chance to get a feel of your opponent's cards."

_I bet this is how Weevil gets so much insight into his opponent's strategy,_ Yugi thought. I nodded thoughtfully.

"Oh, strong cards!" Joey said, his eyes lighting up. He raced over to the common room and planted himself in the middle of a group of competitors. "Hey, wanna trade? How 'bout you? Anybody? Help me out here."

We sweatdropped together. "I guess Joey's trading," I sighed.

"If you've come all this way and you're still trying to improve your deck, you've got to be pretty desperate. I'll catch you on the flip side," Weevil said before turning and walking away.

"Well, should we go join Joey?" Yugi suggested.

"Why not?" I shrugged as we moved to join our friend.

* * *

(Cali's P.O.V.)

Tea and I squirmed slightly as we tried to keep warm. The view was beautiful, but pretty chilly, too.

"Hey, guys, quit moving or we're busted," Tristan whined.

We glared at him and shivered. "But it's freezing out here," Tea protested.

"We can't stay still," I agreed. "Or we'll be Popsicles by tomorrow!"

"Look at it this way: in another few hours, it'll be sunrise!" Tristan snickered at us.

"That's so not funny Tristan," Tea growled at him. Suddenly, a door to our right opened; and, of course, Tristan panicked.

"Stay still!" he yelped, dragging us into the shadows. For once, we listened to him and tried not to shake. A ten with white, spiky hair walked out the door, catching my attention. It that. . .?

"Look, isn't that Ryo?" Tea pointed out, confirming my thoughts. My eyes lit up and I pushed my way in front of Tristan.

_Okay, I said that my bro had a crush on Tea, and I don't know about my sis, but my own crush is on an exchange student from England, Ryo Bakura. He's just so cute with his accent, and his adorable brown eyes, and-but I'm babbling, sorry._

"Ryo? You mean Ryo from school?" Tristan asked, rubbing his arm where I'd accidentally pushed him into the wall.

"What do you think he's doing here?" I asked as I watched him walk to the railing and look at the ocean.

"I guess he's in the Tournament," Tristan shrugged.

* * *

(Tori's P.O.V)

After entering the common room, we decided it would be better for us to sit at a table in the corner and wait for Joey to finish. After a few minutes of bargaining, Joey raced over to us, cards in hand.

"Guys, I got some good card trading in," he said with a wide grin.

"Hey, let us see them," Yugi said. Joey held out the cards for us to see.

"Salamandra and Kunai with Chain," I mused, examining the Spell and Trap.

"Baby Dragon and Shield and Sword," my brother added as he looked over the Monster and Spell. We looked at each other, smiled, and nodded before turning to Joey.

"Great!" Yugi praised.

"With these new cards combined with your Monsters, you'll have a real strong deck," I added in approval.

"Alright," Joey cheered. "So now I'm ready to win every Duel I play."

"I think you're going to find that it's a bit harder than that, Joey," my brother warned. I pulled a card out of the puzzle box stuffed in my backpack. _I bet you guys thought that it was gone, right? Wrong! Yugi and I use it to store our cards now. _Yugi took the card from me and handed it to Joey.

"Here. Add this to your deck; it can be helpful in a tight spot," he said.

"Joey took the card and grinned. "Thanks, guys; I'll take it. I can't get over how you're always helping me out."

"Ah, we meet again," came another voice. We turned and saw Weevil standing a few feet away.

"Ah, Weevil," Yugi greeted. We moved to the railing to talk.

"Ahh, the evening air sure feels nice," Weevil sighed. "So, did you trade for any good cards, Yugi?"

"Nah. I'm gonna duel with the cards we brought with us," my brother answered.

"I figured as much," Weevil nodded. "You used the Exodia cards in your duel with Kaiba, right? Those are the strongest cards of them all."

"And really rare," I added quietly; I had a funny feeling about where the conversation was going.

"Could I possibly see those legendary cards?" Weevil asked. Yugi and I exchanged a look; I still had a bad feeling, but I could tell my big brother didn't have a problem with it.

"I don't see why not," my brother said.

"Just be careful with them, okay?" I asked. We rummaged in the puzzle box for a bit before finding all five of Exodia's pieces.

"Here!" we said, handing them to him. As Weevil took the cards, my bad feeling intensified.

"So these are the cards to summon Exodia," he said, looking them over. "For a long time, I've been trying to come up with some kind of strategy to finally beat these cards. But I couldn't come up with anything; until this moment."

"Huh?" we asked together. Weevil turned to face the ocean-and tossed the cards over the railing!

"No!" We cried together in horror.

_I knew something was wrong! We never should have given him those cards to look at!_ I thought tearfully.

"Now there's no one who can challenge me," Weevil laughed evilly.

"Why you," Joey growled, having shown up just as that insect tossed the cards into the ocean.

"Our cards!" Yugi cried. "Those were the Exodia cards that our grandpa gave us!"

"I'll get 'em!" Joey said before jumping over the railing.

"Joey, don't!" I protested.

"Joey, where are you?" Yugi called.

Joey surfaced and answered us. "I promise you, guys, I'll get them!"

As worried as I was, I felt myself soften a little. "Joey, they're not worth drowning over," I said.

"Don't worry, guys. Look here, I got one of them." He held up a card.

"Joey, swim back to the ship," Yugi pleaded.

"No way," Joey protested. "At least this time there's something I can do to help people I care about." He dove back under and we lost track of him until he came back up.

"Current sure is strong, though; it's hard to fight. But if I punk out now, who's going to help my sister, Serenity?" He snatched up another card and smiled slightly at it.

_Joey has a sister? I never knew that. Wonder if Cali and Tristan knew._

"Just three more now," Joey sighed before being pulled under.

"Joey!" We yelped together. We tossed off our jackets and packs before diving in to help our friend.

"Joey, hold on!" I cried as we reached the waterlogged blonde.

"Guys, just three more," he sighed before going under again.

"Joey!" We grabbed his arms and pulled him back up.

"Yugi, Tori!" Tea called from the deck.

"You guys okay?" Cali asked as she and Tristan unrolled a ladder over the side of the boat._ I thought they were staying behind to watch the shop! Well, I guess it's good for us that they didn't._

"Grab ahold!" Tea told us.

"Hurry!" Tristan added.

"Tea, Tristan, Cali!" Yugi said, just as surprised as I was.

Together, they pulled us back onto the deck in no time.

"That was close," I sighed, glad that I'd taken my jacket off before going to help Joey.

"We're glad you guys showed up when you did; real glad," Yugi added.

"We're a team," Tea reminded us. "We'll all stick together."

"We'll always watch your backs," Tristan added. Our sister nodded her agreement.

"Thanks a lot, guys." Yugi said for the both of us.

"I'm sorry, guys," Joey said from our other side. We turned to look at him.

"Huh?"

"I failed; I only found two of your cards," he said.

"It's okay, Joey," my brother protested.

"It's not okay," Joey retorted. "It's always this way with me. I'm never able to help anybody. Not even my own sister, Serenity."

"Serenity?" Yugi asked.

"Really? You have a sister, Joey?" Tea asked in surprise.

"Our parents divorced years ago, when we were kids," Joey explained. "She lives far away, with my mother. My sister's had really bad eyes since she was born; eventually, she'll go blind."

My eyes widened slightly. Blind? That's terrible!

"I'm sorry," Yugi murmured. Cali lightly placed a hand on the blonde's shoulder, her expression softening.

He smiled slightly at us. "Thanks, guys. She sent me a message." He recounted the videotape he'd received and its contents.

"The doctors told her that the time has come. Soon her eyes will be impossible to repair, even with surgery. But there are specialists who could perform an operation now, before it's too late; they could save her eyesight. But. . .there's no way I can pay for the operation." His hands clenched into fists.

"I have to win; for her! Winning Duelist Kingdom and getting the prize money is the only way I can help Serenity!"

"We'll all do our best, Joey," Yugi said.

I nodded in agreement. "You, for your sister; and us, for our grandpa."

"That's right," Tea said. "We'll do this together."

"Look, the island!" Tristan pointed.

The sun began to rise, and we could see a dark shape in the distance; Duelist Kingdom.

"That's the Duelist Kingdom," Cali murmured quietly, her eyes narrowing slightly.

"That's it; we're almost there," my brother said.

* * *

Again, guys, I'm sorry for the wait; when I finish a chapter, I never seem to want to start typing up the next one. About the Duelist Kingdom rules:

*I've looked at the official rules on Wikipedia; it says nothing about siblings entering as a team and sharing Star Chips and a deck.

Until next time, please R+R; and no flames, please!


	5. Into The Hornet's Nest

Hey, guys! First of all, I'd like to apologize for the wait; I had to put this on hold until I got ahold of the next few episodes, and I've been banned from going online 'till my grades were brought up. Next, I'd like to thank all my reviewers and followers, if no one minds. I can't believe I've barely got 5 chapters up, and I've already got over 20 reviews!

Thorn: *rolls eyes* Whoop-de-doo.

Thornie? *dragon roar*

Thorn: *pales* Like the boss lady said, thank you! She also hopes that you'll continue to support her through the rest of the season.

Thank you, Thornie. Now, wasn't there something else before we start the chapter?

Thorn: *sighs* The boss lady would also like me to remind all of you that she owns absolutely nothing from Yu-Gi-Oh! besides her Ocs.

Thanks again, Thornie, dear. *turns to audience* Now that everything's been said, on to the chapter! Hope you enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 5: Into the Hornet's Nest

(Tori's P.O.V)

We stood together at the bow of the boat as the ship grew closer to Duelist Kingdom. I took a deep breath and slowly let it out.

_This is it, Tor,_ I told myself. _Neither you, Yugi, or Joey can afford to make any big mistakes beyond this point._

"Man, this Duelist Kingdom looks like it's a pretty big place," Joey observed, bringing me out of my thoughts. "Finding your grandpa won't be easy, guys."

"Well, we have to start somewhere," my brother answered.

_And hopefully we'll finish with him safe at home with us,_ I thought.

The ship docked not much later, and we walked down the gangplank together-with poor Tristan panicking the whole time.

"Guys, what if one of those suits know we're stowaways? Maybe we ought to try to swim back while we still can," He asked Tea and Cali.

"We're in the middle of nowhere, lamebrain," my little sister growled, no doubt ready to rip him to pieces if he kept going on.

Tea, the slightly more mild of the two, tried playing peacekeeper. "If you just act normal, we'll be okay," she suggested.

Tristan nodded. "Right; just act normal," he mumbled to himself before launching into a pathetic swagger. I tried not to laugh at my friend; Cali inched away from him and sent out a 'I have never met that dork before in my life' vibe to our competitors.

As we made it off the gangplank, one of the suits noticed Tristan's act and called him over; it wasn't hard to tell that Tristan was about to either throw up or faint-it was a tossup.

_Ten bucks Tris'll hurl before he even makes it to the suit,_ Cali snickered.

_Cal, how can you say that about one of your friends?_ Yugi scolded.

_Easy; he can't even act convincingly normal,_ Cali retorted. I sweatdropped and let the subject drop. Luckily for him, Tristan managed to walk over to the suit without dropping or losing his lunch.

"Relax," the suit told him. "You're our guest here."

"That's right, I'm your guest," Tristan sighed to himself in relief before nodding to the suit and practically running back to us.

"I almost had a heart attack," he gasped.

"Way to play it cool, Tristan; that wasn't suspicious at all," Tea said to him sarcastically. Cali snorted.

Joey grinned and happily punched his fists in the air. "Allright! We made it!" he cheered. "We-achoo!" he broke off, letting loose a monster sneeze.

"Eww! Gross, Jo," Cali groaned, jumping out of the way.

"You never would have caught that cold if it wasn't for Weevil," my brother said. Our eyes narrowed together as we remembered that son of a slug tossing our cards overboard. I was so angry, I wanted to find that mealworm and sink my fists into his ugly face.

"Speaking of our slippery friend," I said, shaking my head and coming to my senses, nodding towards the bug Duelist I'd love to unleash my sister on, "he just slithered off the boat, and I bet he's looking to cause more trouble."

Joey cracked his knuckles as he watched Weevil walking off. "Man, would I love to wipe that slimy smirk off his face," he growled.

"I think we all would, Joey, but we don't have time for that." Yugi said. Joey started to answer my brother when a suit broke away from the others and stood in front of us.

"Welcome all Duelists," a suit addressed the crowd. "Please follow the stairs to meet your host."

Everyone followed the suits up to a hill, atop which an actual castle was built-with what had to be the longest flight of steps ever built leading up to it. Of course, you know who had to climb those stairs.

Tea looked over the side of the staircase into the forest and blinked. "Hey, isn't that Ryo?"

My little sister's eyes lit up; she almost knocked poor Tristan over as she rushed to Tea's side and peered into the woods.

"Where? Where?!" she demanded. We all sweatdropped at her. _That's the thing with my sister: when she crushes on a guy, she crushes hard and then some._ The rest of us walked over and looked for ourselves, but none of us could see hide nor hair of our British friend.

"Maybe it was all in my head," Tea shrugged in confusion as Cali pouted.

"C'mon, we're on a rescue mission, remember?" Tristan reminded them as we climbed higher.

We appeared to be one of the last groups to reach the top of the stairs; just about all of the other competitors were already there, including Mai, Raptor, and that evil Weevil. Most of the competitors were excitedly whispering about Weevil, Raptor, and another guy named Mako Tsunami, who looked more like a spear fisherman than a Duelist. Most of the conversations I overheard called them some of the best Duelists in the world.

"But where's the world champ, Kaiba?" I heard one Duelist ask another.

"It seems he was beaten on his own turf by some kid," the second answered.

"No way! I thought Kaiba was the best!" the first said in surprise.

"Not anymore; now Yugi's the one to beat now," the second replied. I grinned at my big brother as Joey nudged his shoulder.

Pegasus appeared on a castle balcony overlooking us a few minutes later, dressed in a red suit, a dress shirt with ruffled edges, and a black string tie.

"Man, how I'd like to get just five minutes alone with that guy," Joey growled, cracking his knuckles. Cali hissed in agreement.

"Welcome to Duelist Kingdom," Pegasus said to us. "You're the world's greatest Duelists; but come the end of the Tournament, only one of you will be crowned King of Games, so you must assemble your decks with care. To track your progress in the Tournament, you've each been given a Dueling Glove and two Star Chips; you must wager Star Chips on each duel you compete in, and must use your Dueling Gloves to collect the Star Chips. Whoever wins ten Star Chips will be allowed to enter the castle for the finals, and a chance to face myself in one final duel. There are state of the art dueling arenas that cover the entire Island, and new rules will be in effect, which you Duelists will discover as you play. I admonish you to play boldly, think strategically, and duel mercilessly. You have one hour to prepare; fireworks will mark the beginning of the Tournament." As he finished speaking, Pegasus turned and walked back inside the castle.

"Come on, then. Let's go," Yugi said.

"Back down the stairs _again_? C'mon, we barely got up here!" Cali groaned as we began to descend the staircase.

* * *

After we reached the bottom of the staircase, there wasn't much to do besides sit and wait; which started to give Joey doubts.

"I don't know if I can win; here, take back your Star Chip," Joey sighed to Yugi, holding out the Star Chip.

"No, Joey, you keep it," Yugi said firmly.

"Your sister is counting on you," I reminded gently.

"You can do it, Joey," Tea encouraged. "Just stay clear of the more experienced Duelists at first."

"It's just a matter of working your way up," Cali added, surprising me a little. "Not everyone here's a pro, Jo."

Joey nodded and stuck his Star Chip back inside his jacket pocket. "Yeah. Between your Grandpa and my sister, we won't have any room for mistakes, Yuge."

Yugi and I nodded our agreement as multi-colored fireworks exploded over the castle.

"It's started," Tristan pointed out.

"Let's go!" my brother said as we exchanged excited, and slightly nervous, looks.

* * *

We entered the forest and started exploring.

"So, who're you thinking of taking on first, Yuge?" Joey asked.

"Well, first I'm thinking about Weevil; after all, we have a score to settle with him." I nodded in agreement, entertaining thoughts about hurling the little insect off the side of the castle into the ocean. I blinked and looked ahead of us.

"Look, there he is," I pointed.

"Weevil, I challenge you to a duel!" Yugi said. The maggot just laughed and ran off deeper into the woods.

"What's he running for?" Tea asked in confusion.

"I don't know; but if I catch him, he's gonna be missing a few teeth!" Cali said darkly.

We ended up chasing him through the forest, with swarms of bugs crossing our path every so often. I shuddered; normal bugs like caterpillars and beetles don't really bother me; the only kinds that do are the ones with stingers, like hornets and bees.

"What's that punk up to this time?" Joey asked, swatting at a few flies buzzing around him.

"He's fast for a small guy," Tristan panted.

"Maybe you're just slow for a big guy," Tea suggested. Cali laughed at that one, narrowly avoiding swallowing a bug or two.

"I hate bugs, I hate bugs, I hate bugs, I _really_ hate bugs," I chanted under my breath.

_What's Weevil up to? He's been wanting to challenge me since we met on the boat, so what's he running for?_ Yugi wondered.

_Who cares as long as we're away from these bugs!_ I retorted, shuddering.

_It must have something to do with the new rules,_ Yugi realized, remembering what the worm said when we were all on the boat.

_Then we better figure out what-and soon,_ I replied as we entered a medium-sized clearing.

"'Welcome, said the spider to the fly,'" Weevil grinned at us evilly. "You've fallen right into my trap again, Yugi!" he laughed at us. Our eyes narrowed angrily together.

"It's time, Weevil, to answer for what you've done on the boat," my brother proclaimed.

* * *

(3rd person P.O.V)

A golden eye glowed on each of Yugi and Tori's foreheads before light of the same color enveloped them. A few minutes later, the light faded, and the two emerged looking older.

"Allright, Weevil, time to find out if you're as good at Dueling as you are at running away," Tori proclaimed.

"Is that what you thought I was doing? Running away-or cleverly weaving you into my trap,"

"Whichever, Weevil, it's time to duel!" Yugi retorted.

"As you wish!" Weevil cackled as the ground began to shake.

"What have you done?!" Tori shouted above the rumbling.

"Whoa! The entire ground is transforming," Tristan yelped as a dueling arena emerged from under the ground.

"It's gigantic," Tea gasped.

_That's a theatrical touch,_ Cali thought.

"These aren't gonna be like the duels back home," Joey observed.

"You just stepped into a hornet's nest-and there's no way out!"

"What is that?" Yugi asked.

"These giant arenas must be set up all over the island," Joey realized.

"I don't like this," Cali muttered to herself. "Weevil's acting a little too cocky."

"I'll meet you on the field," Weevil jumped onto a platform on one side of the arena, and Yugi stepped onto the other. Weevil glanced at Yugi's Duel Glove and grinned wickedly.

"Ah, I see that you only have one Star Chip, Yugi," he said. "I'll eliminate you from the tournament in this one duel. Everyone else will be easy pickings after that."

"I will eliminate you, Weevil. . .this will be an all or nothing match for us both," Yugi said.

"Why should I risk both my Star Chips when you only have one?" Weevil asked.

"Because I think I have something else you want-my whole Duel Monsters deck."Yugi held it up as Tori nodded in agreement.

"So, you'd risk your own Grandfather's deck? Fine with me-winning all your cards will be a fine way to exterminate you once and for all!"

"Swat that little twerp like a mosquito," Joey cheered.

_How can they even think about betting their deck-Gramp's deck?!_ Cali wondered, stunned.

While everyone was caught up in catching Weevil, they didn't notice a crowd began to form around the arena, almost flooding the space.

"Hey, there's Weevil Underwood! But who's the other guy and the girl behind him?" One of the spectators asked.

Joey turned to the guy and grinned. "That's Yugi and Tori Muto, he beat Kaiba with her help. And I happen to be their best friend, Joey Wheeler. And these three," he nodded to Tristan, Cali, and Tea, "they're just trespassers."

The three fell over and glared at Joey as they got back up. "Thanks a lot, Jo," Cali grumbled.

"I thought I wouldn't be seeing a Weevil-Yugi matchup until the finals," one of them commented.

"Weevil's the regional champ-no way some new kids are gonna get the best of him," another scoffed.

"Well, Yugi, my adoring public is waiting-so it's time to begin," Weevil said.

"Duel!" He and Yugi called at the same time.

**Weevil: 2000**

**Yugi: 2000**

Weevil drew a card and added it to his hand. He smirked as he played a different card.

"Let's see how you like my Killer Needle(1200/1000)!" A giant bee with a long, sharp-looking stinger appeared on the field.

Yugi placed a monster on the board as well. "You'll have to get through my Mammoth Graveyard(1200/800) first!" With a trumpet, a mammoth skeleton showed up in the arena.

"This massive monster with match your annoying insect point for point," Tori smirked.

"Mammoth Graveyard, attack!" Yugi commanded. The mammoth skeleton rushed at the bee.

"Killer Needle, show the mammoth your stinger-attack!" Weevil commanded. The bug flew forward, jabbing its stinger where the mammoth's heart would have been, making it turn to dust and disappear.

"No!" Tori cried in shock.

"Ha! Gone after one sting? He must've been allergic," Weevil sneered.

"I don't understand it-our creatures were evenly matched," Yugi said in surprise. "It should've been a stalemate."

Weevil smirked. "Have you begun to figure out yet why I've brought you to this forest arena? If you look around, then you'll notice this arena is showing an exact replica of our environment-one part wasteland, and one part forest. And you know who thrives in the forest? Bugs! And only the most powerful insects rule the forest, so when they're in the forest area, they get a Field Power Bonus!"

The bee glowed briefly as its power grew. (Killer Needle 1200+360=1560 ATK)

"You weren't listening when Pegasus said there'd be new rules, were you? Maybe if you had been smart enough to steal the Tournament rulebook like I did, you'd be getting the Field Power Bonus instead of me!" Weevil cackled.

"Hey, that's cheating!" Joey exclaimed. "Weevil led us here 'cause he knew he'd get an unfair advantage."

"Calling me a cheater? You're all just angry that you didn't swipe the rules for yourselves! And because you didn't, little Yugi is about to get stung," Weevil snickered.

Yugi and Tori started laughing, catching everyone's attention.

"What? How can you two be laughing?!" Weevil demanded.

"Because," Yugi answered, "Take a look at your ferocious Killer Needle now." He and Tori smiled as Killer Needle faded away. Cali grinned, too.

_Looks like Weevil's not the only one getting a Power Bonus,_ she thought.

"What-? Oh, no, my monster! What have you done with my monster?! It makes no sense! My creature was charged with a Power Bonus! But according to this-" he looked at the stats on the field's screen. "your Mammoth was equally powerful!"

"My Mammoth got a Power Bonus from the wasteland part of the field, just like your bug got from the forest," Yugi smirked himself.

"The field point advantage was supposed to be mine alone," Weevil growled angrily.

"We both kept wondering something on the boat ride here, Weevil-why were we being brought to some remote island just to Duel?" Tori spoke up. "Then when we saw this holographic display grid, it all came together. Each type of monster has a type of field it does best on-a home field advantage. And what makes this island special, is that it has every type of field imaginable."

Yugi took over for her. "So, when you deliberately led us to this spot, it was clear that you wanted to get a field advantage."

"You and your sister are awfully clever to put it together like that, Yugi," Weevil snickered. "But figuring out one rule won't be enough-there are surprises hidden under every rock, and I know them all."

"You can beat him, Yugi!" Tea called from the sidelines.

"Don't let that flea scare ya, he's bluffing!" Joey added.

"Really?" Weevil asked as he and Yugi each drew a card from their decks, "Let's see how you handle this bluff-my Hercules Beetle(1500/2000) will find a way to crawl under your skin," A giant purple beetle appeared on the field, it's big yellow eyes glowing as its points increased. (Hercules Beetle 1500+360=1950)

_Even though we know about the Field power Bonus, it's too late to rebuild the deck now, _Yugi sighed in frustration. _I guess a combo attack would be my best bet._ He chose a card from his hand and played it on the field.

"I play Feral Imp(1300/1400)," he said as a little green furred monster with a horn and wings appeared of the field.

"And I add this Horn of the Unicorn to boost its attack points," he added, playing a spell card. The imp's horn glowed as its points grew. (Feral Imp 1300+700=2000)

"You'll have to do a lot better than that," Weevil sneered. "Hercules Beetle, attack!" The beetle reared up on his hind legs and sent a set of glowing discs flying towards the imp.

"Feral Imp, Magic Lightning Attack!" Yugi commanded. The imp's horn glowed, shooting sparks of electricity at the beetle. The electric shock hit the beetle straight on, but it stayed where it was. On the other hand, as soon as the discs hit the imp, it howled and shattered into pixels.

"Yugi's attack didn't even faze that thing," Tea said worriedly.

"Something's screwy!" Joey declared.

"My imp's Magic Lightning Attack should've destroyed your Beetle-is this another of your tricks, Weevil?" Yugi asked.

"No, Yugi," Weevil answered. "I just thought that you knew that any monster with a Field Power Bonus was also invulnerable to any Magic attack. My Hercules Beetle easily deflected your lightning bolt, and had more than enough power left to destroy your tiny little Feral Imp and chip away at your Life Points."

**Yugi: 1350**

**Weevil: 2000**

"Even that four-eyed tick's smallest bugs are gonna be hard to beat as long as he's got that Field power Bonus," Cali growled.

"But it's not exactly like it can be turned off," Tristan reminded them.

"That Weevil's a no good cheat," Tea scowled angrily at Weevil.

"Make your move," Weevil ordered.

_Maybe I should use my next monster to defend,_ Yugi thought, looking over his hand. Tori nodded as he placed a card on the field facedown.

_By putting the monster in Defense Mode, it will take a hit, but your Life Points will be spared._

"So we're defending now, are we? Very clever-since I can't see your monster's defense points, I can't be sure I can beat it, but even your strongest monster can't stand against my Basic Insect(500/700)!" A big green bug appeared on the field.

"Not only does it get a Field Power Bonus(Basic Insect 500+350=950), I equip it with a Level 3 Laser Cannon and a Level 2 Power Booster(950+300=1250)!" Purple armor covered the insect's back, topped with a giant laser cannon and a pair of giant fans.

_No! Now his insect's so powerful my defense won't stand a chance,_ Yugi gasped. _If it falls, my Life Points are next!_

"Now, Yugi, for all the little bugs you've crushed, stomped, or fumigated, it's payback time!" Weevil said as the Basic Insect's laser began to glow, sending a beam towards Yugi's facedown monster. It was all Yugi and Tori could do to hold on as the monster was blown away, thankfully sparing Yugi's Life Points.

"You'll have to do better than that if you want to survive my bug's laser-powered arsenal," Weevil snickered.

"Then I'll play this card," Yugi retorted, laying a card on the field in face down attack mode.

"I'm going to keep you on the defensive," Weevil said to Yugi, holding up a card. "Attack now, with any monster, and you'll activate this Trap card,"

"Weevil's got Yugi cornered," Tristan gulped.

"Hey, he can't even counter-attack," Joey frowned.

"As long as my Trap card remains in play, you're powerless to make a move against me-so, does my tightening web make you squirm?" Weevil asked, grinning nastily.

_He's so busy bragging, he's not paying any attention to my moves,_ Yugi thought as he played a card. _Maybe I can set a little trap of my own._

"Face it, Yugi, I've got you pinned down," Weevil sneered. "While you're totally unable to attack me, I can attack you any time I want-each turn you cower, I can bring another new monster to the field!" An ugly brown-black bug appeared on the field, as Yugi drew a card from his deck. Another bug, this time a giant purple ant-like thing, followed on the next turn, again as Yugi drew a card.

"Draw, Yugi! My army of insects just keeps getting bigger-I'm going to wipe your monsters out in one giant bug blitzkrieg!" Weevil laughed as what looked like a giant praying mantis joined the other bugs already on the field.

_That's right, Weevil,_ Yugi and Tori smirked to themselves. _Put all your monsters on the field. That's exactly what we're counting on._

"Just look at our Yugi; he's so confident up there," Tea said proudly.

"When he's dueling, it's like he and Tori become totally completely different people," Joey agreed.

"Well, what do you know?" Weevil cackled as he drew a card. "I'm down to my last monster-and you know what that means, Yugi. It's time to be exterminated!"

"We'll see what my deck has to say about that, Weevil," Yugi retorted as he drew a card from his deck. He and Tori smiled at the card.

_Yes! The Dark Magician-this is perfect! There's no way Weevil could ever resist him as a target!_

"All right, Weevil, I defend with the Dark Magician," Yugi called as he placed the card on the field.

"Excellent! I'll destroy your very favorite card first; now my pet, power up your Laser Cannon and attack!" Weevil ordered the Basic Insect. The laser glowed brightly before discharging another beam heading towards the defending monster.

Yugi and Tori began to chuckle. Weevil was taken aback.

"What? Why are you two laughing?!" he demanded.

"Weevil, you're not the only one who can set a Trap card," Yugi smirked.

"What?!" Weevil gasped.

"You were so busy grandstanding that you didn't pay any attention to the cards my brother but into play," Tori grinned.

Weevil's eyes widened in shock. "B-but I thought they were all monster cards," he protested.

"Not all; while you loaded the field with your bug monsters, I prepared a special surprise-the power of my Mirror Force Trap card," Yugi held up said Trap card.

Weevil went pale. "Hold your fire!" he screeched at his monster.

Tori tsked. "Too late, Weevil; you already ordered the attack on our Dark Magician-and Mirror Force will deflect it right back at you!" As the glowing beam reached the Dark Magician, a shining wall surrounded him and deflected the attack in smaller bursts directed at all of Weevil's monsters, destroying them all, and taking most of his Life Points with them.

"My Life Points are devastated," He groaned.

**Yugi: 1350**

**Weevil : 555**

"Yes," Yugi sighed to himself.

"Yeah, Yugi!" Cali and Tea, and the guys cheered together.

"You're a liar and a cheat, Weevil," Yugi declared. "But it was your overconfidence that allowed me to get the best of you. Your insects are decimated, your life Points are low, and as you yourself said before, you used up all your monsters."

"Actually, I lied about that, too," Weevil grinned. "I still have my most formidable creature waiting in the wings; this unconquerable insect will swat you down once and for all!"

* * *

And we've hit the first cliffhanger! Again, I'm sorry you guys have had to wait so long for this chapter; I promise to have the next one ready much sooner. Until next time, please R+R; and no flames, please!


	6. The Ultimate Great Moth

Hey, guys! I told you it wouldn't be long before I updated again; I know all of you are pretty anxious to read the next chapter, so I'll skip my usual babble and move on to the disclaimer: I don't own anything from Yu-Gi-Oh!, though I'd love to. Now, on to the story!

* * *

Chapter 6: The Ultimate Great Moth

"Nice play, Yuge!" Joey called.

"He wiped out Weevil's insect army in one shot," Tristan agreed.

"All right," Tea cheered.

"You've got him on the ropes!" Cali added.

A laugh caught their attention, making them turn away from the arena; Mai was standing a foot or two away from the group.

_Why is she here?_ Cali thought, wrinkling her nose in disgust.

"Yeah, right," she sneered. Joey and Tristan's eyes lit up.

"Mai," they murmured together, their eyes locked on her.

"You losers don't seem to realize who your little pal's up against," Mai said. "Weevil's the Regional Champion, he's got moves your little shrimp and his sister couldn't even dream of."

Tea's fists clenched angrily. _Ooh, that Mai; she's always butting in with her big mouth. Well, I'm not gonna let her trash my friends!_

"Well, nobody asked you. So why don't you take a hike?" she snapped.

"Preferably off a cliff," Cali added, scowling at the blonde.

"And miss a chance to watch a champion like Weevil as he turns this around?" Mai retorted. "No way, not a chance."

Joey and Tristan nodded their agreement. "Yeah; I mean, Weevil really came from behind to win the Regionals," Joey said.

"He's tough _and_ sneaky," Tristan added.

"Whose side are you two goofballs on, anyway?!" Tea yelled.

"Traitors," Cali growled in agreement, angrily crossing her arms over her chest.

"All I'm saying is that for Yugi, this is his first official duel," Joey protested.

"And he's fighting a champ," Tristan said, nodding. Mai smirked and turned back to the duel.

_Mai, you troublemaker; you think you know so much?_ Tea thought, glaring at the woman angrily. _Yugi'll show you._

"You may have flattened my army of bugs, Yugi, but you haven't won," Weevil growled. "I have plenty of tricks up my sleeve."

Yugi smirked. "You've done an awful lot of buzzing throughout this whole duel, Weevil," he said. "But I'm still here waiting for the sting."

"Since you're new to this whole Dueling tournament thing, I'll try to make it simple for you; I'm gonna wipe that goofy grin off your face-and your sister's, too. Now, let's see which lucky bug gets to take the first bite." Weevil looked at his hand with a snicker. "But this little bug won't stand a chance against all your ferocious monsters; oh well," he sighed, picking a card and playing in on the field. "I'll play him in Defense Mode."

"That would've been a nice bluff," Yugi said. "But I still haven't forgotten about the Trap card you played." He nodded to the other card on Weevil's side of the field.

_He didn't trap me then, and he's not gonna trap me now._ Yugi thought determinedly. _His card will activate the second I attack, and it'll destroy all the cards I have on the field. Wait! What if I got all my monsters off the field first, and then destroy Weevil's trap? That's it!_

"I'll spring your trap, Weevil-but first," Yugi placed a card on the field. "The Monster Recovery card! It allows me to call back all the monsters I have on the field. Monsters, return to your cards!" he commanded. Dark Magician and the other facedown monster disappeared from the field.

"Now your trap has nothing to snare; and now that my monsters are all safely back in my deck, the Monster Recovery card also lets me draw a new hand." Yugi shuffled the cards in his hand back into his deck, then drew five new cards.

"Now all I have to do is sacrifice one of my weaker monsters and your trap is sprung. Kuriboh(300/200), attack," Yugi put a card on the field and a little brown hairball with big purple eyes and small, clawed hands appeared on the field with a chirp. The little guy flew towards Weevil. The facedown card glowed; a skinny leech-like monster with a round mouth and small, sharp teeth charged at the hairball, swallowing it whole before disappearing.

"Trap cards only work when they catch you by surprise," Tori said. "Next time, don't give your plan away."

**Yugi: 1050**

**Weevil: 555**

Weevil started laughing. "I didn't," he said. "I don't give a bee's behind about that trap!"

Yugi and Tori exchanged shocked looks. "What?"

"I tricked you into recalling your monsters so you couldn't attack this," he flipped over the monster card, revealing a little green worm with purple markings. (Larvae Moth 500/400 500+350=950)

_It's just a little Larvae Moth; that tiny creature can't be much of a threat_, Tori frowned slightly. _What's Weevil up to now?_

"Sure, he's just a little slug now," Weevil said, slapping a card down. "But the Cocoon of Evolution(0/2000) will change all that."

"What?" Yugi's eyes widened.

"Isn't it beautiful?" Weevil cackled as threads of some kind began to surround the little thing.

_Uugh,_ Yugi winced.

Tori shuddered, furiously shaking her head. _I hate bugs, I hate bugs, I hate bugs,_ she chanted.

"Eww. That's just gross," Tea made a face.

"Weevil's bug is sealing itself into a cocoon," Cali said, frowning.

Mai smirked. _I told those chumps that Weevil would turn this duel around,_ she thought smugly.

"Behold! My Cocoon of Evolution," Weevil said. "Within that Cocoon sits my tiny little Larvae Moth. And over the next five turns, he will undergo a startling transformation-from harmless little caterpillar to unstoppable Great Moth!"

"Then I'll crack your cocoon before that happens," Yugi retorted.

"Easier said than done, Yugi. My Cocoon also gets a Power Bonus from the wilderness around us, increasing its defense points-it's so strong, you won't even be able to scratch its surface!" (Cocoon of Evolution 2000+600=2600)

"Just five more turns, Yugi," Weevil held up his hand. "In five more turns, my Great Moth will fully evolve and finish you off!"

_If what Weevil says is true, I better act fast,_ Yugi thought. _That thing's getting bigger-and stronger-with each passing second._

_We have to find a way to break open that Cocoon,_ Tori agreed. _We can't get that Moth get to its fifth stage of evolution. Do we have a card that's powerful enough to stop it?_

Yugi drew a card from his deck and looked over his hand. "Gaia, the Fierce Knight(2300/2100)," he played a card; a purple horse and rider wearing blue armor and carrying a pair of spears appeared on the field. "Shatter that cocoon," Yugi ordered. The horse took off towards the cocoon; the knight's spears bounced right off the thing when they reached it.

"The Field Power Bonus makes it too strong," Joey cried.

"That's one turn down; care to try again?" Weevil grinned.

_Weevil's cocoon is going to be tough to crack,_ Yugi thought. _And for each attack that fails, my Life Points go down._

**Yugi: 750**

**Weevil: 555**

"Oh no," Tea gulped.

"Hang tough, Yugi," Joey called. "You'll pop that pus-bag!"

Mai turned the other's attention away from the duel with another amused laugh.

"Just what do you think you're laughing at?" Cali hissed at Mai.

"All that stupid cheerleading you're doing," Mai retorted. "You make it sound like your Yugi still has a chance."

"Of course he does," Tea snapped at the blonde.

"Don't listen to her, girls," Joey said, holding her and Cali back from punching the blonde woman.

"Every Duelist that's ever gone up against Weevil's Cocoon of Evolution has been totally trashed." Mai stated calmly. The girls were so shocked, they quit fighting against Joey's grip on their wrists.

"All of them?!" Joey and Tristan asked together in astonishment.

"But my big brother has my sis and the rest of us to help him beat it," Cali protested.

_He'll need a lot more help than you losers,_ Mai snorted, turning back to the duel.

"Hear it growing?" Weevil asked, nodding to his Cocoon. "The more time you waste, the more powerful it becomes."

_If we don't come up with something fast, I won't only lose this duel-we'll lose our only chance to save Grandpa,_ Yugi thought worriedly. _There's no way I can let that happen._

"Tick-tock, tick-tock," Weevil snickered as he drew a card from his deck. "Just four more turns until my Great Moth emerges. Then you can stop worrying how _you're_ going to destroy _it_, and start worrying about how _it's_ going to destroy_ you_!"

_Maybe you should prepare a defense, just in case you really can't stop that thing, _Tori suggested. Yugi nodded, picking a card from his hand and laying it on the field in defense mode.

"You're wasting your turn," Weevil scoffed. "No defense will save you once my Moth is out!"

_I have to figure out a way to turn this duel around,_ Yugi frowned.

_Weevil seems pretty confident that whatever's growing in that cocoon is unbeatable, but there's gotta be a way to pop that thing open, and wipe that smirk off his face. But how?_ Tori thought.

"Hang in there, Yugi," Tea called.

"You gotta win this for your Grandpa-he's counting on you and Tori," Joey added.

"We know he is," Yugi sighed.

"Then you can't keep letting this little creep push you around," Joey retorted. "You gotta get fired up!"

Yugi and Tori's eyes lit up. _Wait,_ they thought together, _that's it! Get fired up!_

"So, do you guys sit around and write these lame cheers, or do they just come to you?" Mai asked, yawning. "I mean, don't you realize all your pep talk nonsense only distracts Yugi from the game?"

"How would you know? I bet no one's ever wanted to be your friend, let alone care enough to cheer you on," Tea spat bitingly.

"Trust me, friends haven't helped Yugi any," Mai answered. "He's losing." She blinked in surprise as Yugi and Tori smiled and each gave Joey a thumbs-up.

"Yeah!"

"Yes!"

"Alright!" The boys grinned together, pumping their fists in the air. Tea and Cali smirked at Mai.

"Well, Mai, from the look on my sibs' faces, I'd say having friends helped him out after all." Cali said.

_Brats,_ Mai thought as they began making faces at her. _What idea could Yugi have possibly gotten from these mental morons?_

"Go, Curse of Dragon(2000/1500)! Take flight!" Yugi called, playing a card. A yellow and red dragon appeared with a roar.

"And I'll combine it with this Magic card," Yugi added, putting a second card on the field. "Attack with Dragon Flame!" The dragon fired a ball of fire at the Cocoon, hitting it and the ground around it, surrounding it with fire.

"What are you doing?" Weevil demanded. "You know your little firefly can't hurt my Cocoon."

"What's so funny?" he growled as Yugi and Tori chuckled together.

"Who said anything about aiming at your cocoon?" Tori asked as her brother held up the Magic card.

"I combined by Burning Land Magic card with my Curse of Dragon to destroy the forest all around your Cocoon."

"No forest?! That means I lose my Field Power Bonus!" Weevil cried.

"Exactly," Yugi nodded. "Your Cocoon was too tough to attack directly, but without its Field Power Bonus it's just a big target."

Weevil turned pale and emitted a gasp. (Cocoon of Evolution 2600-600=2000)

"Now, let's try this again. Gaia the Fierce Knight, attack!" Yugi ordered. The knight and his horse charged the thing again, this time piercing the walls of the cocoon.

"He did it!" Cali whooped.

"Popped it open like a zit!" Joey agreed with a grin.

Weevil chuckled to himself as the knight retreated from the now broken cocoon. A hole the size of a human head had been put in the thing, but nothing inside it moved. Yugi and the others waited for a moment, silent and still as they waited for something to jump from it.

"Is it still alive?" Tea asked after another minute.

"I have a bed feeling we're about to find out," Joey replied grimly.

The cocoon squirmed violently.

"It's still moving," Cali gulped, taking cover behind Joey and Tristan.

"You're surprised?" Mai asked, raising an eyebrow as the cocoon imploded, releasing the insect it sheltered before.

"It must've evolved enough to survive," Joey said with surprise.

"I told you Weevil was good," Mai sighed.

"I'm impressed you pierced my cocoon, Yugi," Weevil said. "But you still couldn't stop the evolution of my ultimate insect, the Great Moth(2600/2500)!" A giant moth with multicolored wings appeared, buzzing loudly and somewhat angrily.

"But I thought it took five turns," Yugi protested.

"So you stopped him one turn early," Weevil said dismissively. "He's still strong enough to beat you!"

"Oh no," Tea gasped.

_Ha! I notice the little dweebs aren't cheering now_, Mai smirked. _The_ _Great Moth is an unbeatable creature. They can chatter from the sidelines all they want, but it won't help Yugi one bit!_

_Weevil turned this match around once more,_ Yugi thought. _But I'm not giving up._

"So, Yugi, feeling outclassed yet? Or maybe you're enjoying your first major-league dueling loss," Weevil cackled.

"You may have gotten your prized monster on the field Weevil, but I'll still find a way to squash that oversized bug," Yugi stated calmly.

"Hmph! You'll pay for that stinging jab with your Life Points," Weevil retorted. "Great Moth, take flight!" The insect rose into the air with a single beat of its wings.

"So be it. We'll settle this in the skies!" Yugi said.

"I think it's high time I pay your knight back for demolishing my Cocoon," Weevil grinned evilly.

_My knight! He's the height of my attack force; there's no way I can afford to lose him!_ Yugi thought worriedly.

"This is it, Yugi!" Weevil called. "My moth will crush your defenses, slay your knight, and blast your dragon from the sky!"

"Not if I can help it, Weevil," Yugi said, placing a card on the field.

"But that's just it, you can't help it; Moth, Hurricane Attack!" Weevil ordered the bug. It flapped its wings, generating a giant pillar of wind directed at Yugi's monsters.

"No, my Beaver Warrior," Yugi said as the monster was blown into pixels. "My defense,"

"It's hopeless," Weevil laughed. "Nothing can stand against the gale force winds of my Moth's Hurricane. Your knight will be totally blown away! That'll teach him to mess with my cocoon,"

"Don't count on it," Yugi retorted, making Weevil stop laughing almost immediately.

"You were so busy fawning over your monster that you didn't notice that I played a Polymerization card," he smirked.

"But, I thought," Weevil gulped hesitantly.

"As long as I have two compatible monsters on the field, I can use my Polymerization card to fuse them into one ultimate creature."

"I'm not some beginner," Weevil snapped. "I know what fusion does."

"Then you must know it increases my attack points," Yugi said. "My fused dragon-knight combo is now powerful enough to go head to head with your Great Moth." (Gaia the Dragon Champion 2600/2100)

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Weevil warned, motioning to the field. "Look again,"

"No," Yugi murmured as the dragon rider's attack points began dropping. (Gaia the Dragon Champion 2600-300+2300) "My knight-he's losing points. . .and fast."

"But how? And why?" Tori frowned.

"It's poison, Yugi," Weevil replied. "Poison particles from my Great Moth. Every time it uses its Hurricane attack, it releases tons of these tiny toxic particles-and your precious dragon-knight combo is being poisoned by their deadly touch!" He laughed as the monster lost another few hundred points.(Gaia the Dragon Champion 2300-400=1900)

_My knight is losing more points each passing second,_ Yugi thought. _But how do I protect him from the very air itself? There's nothing here in my hand that can help me, but I know my Grandpa's deck won't let me down._

Yugi drew a card from his deck. _Yes!_ He grinned to himself. "Ready to be rained out, Weevil?" he called, playing a card on the field. "Makiyu the Magical Mist!"

Rain began to fall, cleaning the poison pollen from the knight and completely soaking the moth through.

"No, my poison!" Weevil cried angrily. "You're washing it all away!"

"That's right; Magical Mist washes the field clean," Tori nodded with a smile.

"That's not fair! I was about to win, and you save yourself with a little drizzle?!" Weevil howled.

_It's true that you saved your knight, brother,_ Tori thought. _But that's not all you did._

"All right, you might have stopped my poison attack, but you've only bought yourself a brief reprieve; my next move will be one you won't be able to think your way out of; brace yourself for my ultimate insect's ultimate attack: Great Moth, Tornado of Doom!" The moth's wings beat much faster than before, whipping up a supersized column of wind and taking out Yugi's monster in a single blow.

"A direct hit!" Weevil cheered. "Your little rainstorm didn't save you from that one, now, did it? Your knight is toast, and you're almost out of Life Points,"

**Yugi: 50**

**Weevil: 555**

"Yugi, keep fighting! You can come back from this," Joey urged.

"You're all delusional," Mai scoffed.

"No, Joey's right," Tea said. "Yugi and Tori never give up. And we never give up on either of them."

"You're nuts," Mai countered. "Weevil's totally annihilated Yugi's strongest monster combo; he's down to fifty measly Life Points; he can't win, so do me a favor and quit yapping."

"I won't stop yapping, you selfish, pompous, know-it-all bleach-blonde windbag!" Tea yelled angrily. "Do us a favor and get lost, right Cali, Joey?"

"Amen to that, Tea!" Cali cheered.

"You said it, Tea," Joey agreed. "Just ignore her, Yugi's in trouble,"

"I know," Tea answered. "But what can we do?"

"I dunno," Joey shrugged. "But it would be great if we could trade Mai in for Life Points."

"I so wish!" Cali hooted, falling to the ground in a fit of laughter. Tea helped her back up when she stopped.

"I told you all along that Yugi didn't have a chance at winning this thing," Mai said. "He wastes too much time listening to you losers. Weevil keeps his mind on the game."

"Then why didn't he see this coming?" Tristan asked. The others gaped at him.

"See what coming?" they asked together.

"Whatever it is that Yugi and Tori are grinning about," he replied. The others looked at the siblings.

"You're right," Joey said in surprise. "They've got big smiles on their faces."

"No, wait; I don't think they're smiling-" Tea started.

"I think they're laughing," Cali finished wide-eyed. _What the hell's going on here?_ She wondered.

"No. Way," Mai murmured under her breath.

"Hey! What are you so happy about? Stop that snickering!" Weevil howled angrily.

"Weevil, I know it will be very difficult for you to accept losing a duel," Yugi said calmly. "Especially after spending so much time finding inventive ways to cheat. But if you thought bending the rules would help you win this match, you're wrong."

"No! This is a trick!" Weevil cried in protest.

"You play dishonestly, expecting the same of your opponents," Tori said. "But my brother and I duel with honor, Weevil, and that makes all the difference."

"You got nothing," Weevil snapped.

"Here's what I've got," Yugi played a card. "The mighty Summoned Skull(2500/1200)!" A bony demon with big bat-like wings and long claws and horns appeared on the field.

"Oh; what's that?" Mai asked herself as she stared at the monster.

"This is it, Weevil; your ultimate insect won't survive my next attack," Yugi predicted.

"There's something you've overlooked, Weevil," Tori said. "The Magical Mist Spell card is still dampening this entire field."

"She's right," Weevil said to himself in shock, watching a small portion of mist churn around the demon's feet.

"Everything's wet," he looked up at his monster in horror. "My Great Moth is totally soaked." The moth was barely able to stay airborne, water dripping off the edges of its wings every time it flapped.

"And my Summoned Skull attacks with electricity, making your waterlogged bug a giant-sized lightning rod," Yugi added. "I hope you're in the mood for some fireworks, Weevil, because all this water boosts my monster's electrical attack by one thousand points!" (Summoned Skull 2500+1000=3500)

"Summoned Skull! Lightning Strike," Yugi called. The demon raised its arms up, electricity gathering around them, then pointed them towards the moth, sending the electricity out as a lethal pair of lightning bolts. The lightning crackled as it reached the moth, frying it to a crisp before it disappeared.

"It's over. I won," Yugi stated quietly.

"No; impossible. My moth's unbeatable," Weevil groaned as he sank to his knees.

**Weevil: 0**

**Yugi: 50**

"All right, Yugi!" Joey cheered.

"Way to go!" Tristan called.

"I knew you could do it!" Cali jumped up and down, waving her fists in the air.

"You won! I knew you would!" Tea added with a wide smile.

"Impressive; I didn't think Yugi could ever beat Weevil," Mai murmured thoughtfully before turning and leaving the forest.

Five minutes later, and Weevil was off the dueling arena platform and whining up a storm.

"But I'm the Regional Champion. The Regional Champion!" he protested as Yugi took Weevil's Star Chips from his glove.

"You call yourself a champion, Weevil, but you only won your duels through lying and cheating," Tori said.

"Real champions," Yugi said, holding the Star chips in his hand, "They play with honor; they play _fair_."

"Don't waste your breath on this sneaky slug," Joey growled, glaring at Weevil barely five inches from his nose. "He's a dueling disgrace. And I hereby relieve him of his Dueling Gauntlet." Joey plucked the glove off of Weevil's hand before the creep fainted, slipping it onto his own hand.

"Joe, I wouldn't have done that," Cali warned. "Who knows where that thing has been?"

"There," Yugi sighed as he fit the Star Chips into their holes. "Three Star Chips so far."

"But we still need to win seven more," Tori reminded her brother. "Ten Star Chips will get us into that castle, where they're keeping our Grandfather prisoner-and where we'll battle Pegasus once and for all!"

* * *

And the duel with Weevil is over; good riddance, hope you all enjoyed it. Next up: Joey's first duel-against Mai, of all people. Tune in next time to see Joey duel it out! In the mean time, please R+R; and no flames, please!


	7. First Duel

Hey, guys, here we are again; I hope all of you enjoy this chapter! Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Yu-Gi-Oh! besides Tori and Cali, thank you very much.

* * *

Chapter 7: First Duel

(Tori's P.O.V.)

We left the forest together; I was too happy for words to get out of that bug-infested place. With Weevil officially out of the tournament, Joey decided it was time to find an opponent for himself.

"Okay, bring 'em on," Joey said, rubbing his hands together eagerly. "I'm itching to duel and I'm taking on the next Duelist we see!"

"You know, I'm not so sure Joey's up to this," Tea commented as he ran ahead of us, stopping at the edge of a cliff bordering the meadow and looking out over the ocean.

"Yeah, there are Tournament-level Duelists here," Tristan agreed. "But don't you think he's smart enough to realize that?"

"Here I stand, the next Duel Monsters Champion!" He called, turning to wave to us, a giant grin on his face. We sweatdropped together.

"He needs a reality check," Tea mumbled.

"Guess he's about as smart as he looks," Tristan sighed.

"We both know he's dumber than that, Tris," Cali grumbled.

A serious expression crossed Joey's face as he turned back to the sea. He said something to himself, but he was too far away for us to hear him, so don't ask me what. Tea heard something and turned away from the group.

"Look there," she pointed. We turned, spotting at least half a dozen arenas within view, all of them occupied with in-progress duels.

"Duel Monsters arenas," Tristan looked from one to another. "Look at them, they're all over!"

"You said it," my brother said, nodding. "Lots of Dueling going on."

"All right, I'm going in," Joey muttered, his eyes glued to the other Duelists.

"Are you sure you wanna do this?" Tristan asked. "If you lose, you give up your only Star Chip."

"That's right," Tea nodded. Joey fell to the ground in panic.

"You forgot, didn't you?" Cali sighed, sweatdropping again.

"Don't panic," I chided. "You can do this, Joey."

"You do know that, don't you?" Yugi asked with a slight smile.

Joey got up and smiled at us sheepishly. "I hope you guys are right. This'll be my first official duel and I can't afford to get knocked out at the start."

"True," Yugi said. "but not everyone here is a pro. I'm sure you can find someone on your level."

"Go for someone easy, Joey," Tea advised.

He pulled out his deck and eyed it thoughtfully. "I guess I should think about what kind of field my cards are best suited for," Joey said. "They're mostly monsters and fighter-types." He looked around with a smile. "I guess that makes this meadow region my kinda turf."

"That's right, Joey. See, you know what you're doing!" I smiled at him. A familiar voice interrupted us.

"You lost, you crybaby! Now give me your Star Chips!"

I felt one of my eyes twitch a little; a dark look crossed Tea's face, and Cali scowled. "A voice that annoying could only belong to one person," Tea growled, her eyes narrowed into slits.

"Mai," my sister ground out, her fists clenched. We made our way to the arena the blonde was dueling at in time to see her add Star Chips to her glove and laugh; gods, I hate that laugh! Her opponent seemed to be arguing with her about something; as we got closer, we caught some of their conversation:

"It's not fair," the guy cried. "You cheated somehow! How could you have known what your cards were when they were still face down?!"

"I'm psychic," Mai answered seriously, turning to face her opponent. "And you're done." She winked at him.

_Do you think it's true?_ I asked my brother. He shrugged.

_I guess anything is possible,_ he replied.

_Please,_ my sister sniffed. _If Blondie's really psychic, I'm a pixie._

The boy's shoulders slumped and he hung his head as he left the arena behind, Mai laughing at the retreating figure. She stopped when she noticed us-or rather, my brother and maybe Joey.

"Well, look who's here," she said.

"Wow, Mai's already won two more Star Chips," Joey said to us, nodding at her glove, which was almost halfway filled now.

"Hey, Yugi, are your duels going well?" she asked my brother cheerfully-like they were friends or something.

"I'm making progress," he answered slowly, a little confused, no doubt. Mai grabbed my brother's arm and peered at his glove. I felt my eye twitch again, and I could hear Cali growling under her breath and imagine the steam pouring out of Tea's ears.

"So you have three Star Chips, do you?" she asked. "I might be up for a duel myself." The perfect way to get rid of Mai; talk about a golden opportunity! I know I wasn't the only one who saw it, because Tea leaned down and whispered in my brother's ear:

"Take her," she hissed. "Knock her out of the competition and off the island."

_Go for it, bro!_ My little sister encouraged. _Malibu Barbie here won't know what hit her!_

_If you won't, I will,_ I threatened quietly. He sweatdropped, but didn't answer.

"You know," Mai said, dropping my brother's arm and backing up a little bit, "I'm definitely in the mood for a duel right now; so get ready, because I choose to challenge. . ." she closed her eyes and held up her index finger, "You, Joey!"

Joey blinked and almost fell over. "You challenge me?!" he asked, stunned.

"Do you have the guts to accept?" Mai asked, raising an eyebrow at him. "Get it? I wanna duel you, kid."

"Guess you heard about my skills," Joey said, raising his chin proudly.

"Don't flatter yourself," Mai said dismissively. "I overheard you, Yugi, and Tori talking on the boat, and I know they gave you the only Star Chip you have. My motto is take out the weakest Duelists first; and considering you wouldn't even be here if they hadn't given you one of their Chips, you've got to be the weakest Duelist on this island!"

"Hey," Joey protested. "Do you have to be so. . .insulting?"

"This time she was being truthful," Tea muttered loud enough for him to hear; he fell to the ground in shock.

Cali snorted. _Idiot._

"Mai's ruthless, don't duel her first," I protested. It's one thing for Yugi or I to challenge her, but another for Joey, barely a beginner, to do it.

"Don't you get it?" Tristan asked. "If you lose this duel, you'll be out for good."

"Yugi, Tori, stand up for Joey," Tea pleaded with us quietly. "One of you have to duel her in his place." We exchanged looks, then looked from Mai to Joey, and back again. We looked at each other one more time and nodded before turning to Tea.

"This is his decision to make," my brother said.

"Show Mai what you're made of," I said to Joey. Joey grinned at us and nodded.

"Right," he said. "She thinks I'm a pushover, but she'll see!"

"Yugi! Tori!" Tea scowled at us.

"You can't be serious, Jo!" Tristan said.

"I've never been more serious," Joey retorted. "Don't you see? This is my chance to prove myself; to show everybody! Don't forget, Gramps trained me!" He grinned a little sheepishly and kicked at the ground a little. "I mean, sure, Gramps didn't get a chance to finish my training, and granted, I wish I had a chance to practice more before getting thrown into a Tournament this huge with so many heavy hitters, but honest, I think I can take 'em," He laughed a little shakily.

"You better be right," Tristan sighed. "For your sister's sake."

"Yeah, you better not screw this up, Joey," Tea added. My sister, who kept her mouth shut so far, just stepped in front of Joey and tugged a little on his jacket to get his attention. When he looked at her, she just said one little word:

"Win." He nodded to her before turning to Mai.

"I accept," he said. "Let's duel."

"Get ready to lose," Mai sneered. They mounted the platforms on either side of the arena.

"Go get her, Joey! Tea called.

"Kick her butt!" Tristan encouraged. Joey grinned at us and raised a fist into the air.

"He'll do fine," Yugi murmured to himself.

"Since you only have one measly Star Chip, I only have to bet one of mine against you," she said, taking a Chip off her glove and placing it on the platform next to her field. Joey nodded, and placed his Chip on the platform just like she did. He glanced at the field and blinked in horror.

"Oh, no; what are all those mountains doing on my field?!"

"The field we'll battle on is 40% forest, 40% mountain, and the last 20% is meadow," Mai said. "So deal with it or surrender."

"Calm down, Joey, you'll be okay," I called to the panicked blonde. "Your monsters will still get a Field Power Bonus on the meadow part of the field."

"Oh, yeah," he sighed in relief. He turned to Mai. "Listen, Mai; not for nothing, but I gotta ask you one question before we duel."

She blinked at him, puzzled.

"Why did you decide to take part in this tournament? Tell me, Mai; why is it you duel?"

"Why do I duel?" she asked incredulously before launching into a big gush. "For all the comforts that I crave: designer clothes, travel, perks, anything to avoid real work! Hot cars, turbo-charged for living large!"

Joey smirked. "So that's why you want the prize money? How selfish."

Cali grinned. "Couldn't have said it better myself, Jo-well, I probably could've."

Mai blew up at this. "How dare you try to judge me? Who do you think you are, you pathetic little snot?!"

"Hey, you're only dueling for things," Joey said. "For your information, some of us duel for the people we love."

"You'll show her, Joey," Yugi started quietly.

"Show her what it's like to duel from the heart," I finished softly.

"Duel!" Joey and Mai called together.

**Joey: 2000**

**Mai: 2000**

Joey drew his cards and looked them over carefully. "So, to start the game off," he picked a card and lay it down on the field. "Masaki the Legendary Swordsman(1100/1100)! The Field Power Bonus'll bring his power up over three hundred points."

A samurai appeared on the field, sword drawn. (Masaki the Legendary Swordsman 1100+330=1430)

"Hey, I made my first move!" Joey grinned.

Mai smirked at him, then closed her eyes and began to hum quietly. Still humming, and with her eyes still closed, she drew five cards from her deck and lay them face down on the edge of the platform.

"What do you think you're doing?" Joey asked in confusion.

"Divining my card," Mai answered calmly. "I have to mystically choose which one of them is the best."

"What are you, a psychic?" he asked.

"And the best card would be. . ." Mai fingered each card before picking one up and laying it on the field. "The Harpie's Lady(1300/1400)! Her strength is boosted by the mountain's Field Power Bonus!"

A woman with long pink hair and wings on her arms, and claws for hands and feet appeared on the field with a bird-like screech. (Harpie Lady 1300+390=1690)

"I'll still take it on; attack!" Joey ordered his monster. The samurai rushed forward.

"Joey, wait!" by brother cried. "Land monsters are at a disadvantage against flying monsters!"

It was too late; the samurai took a swing at the harpie, but missed as she flew into the air above him.

"Monsters that can fly have a magical resistance to monsters that can only walk on the earth," I called.

"So Joey blew it already?" Tea asked nervously.

We shook our heads. "No, but he attacked too soon, before he thought about what her monster was capable of," my brother answered.

The harpie swooped down and cut the warrior to pieces with her talons, turning it into pixels.

"My samurai's sushi," Joey groaned.

**Joey: 1410**

**Mai: 2000**

"Oh, cards, speak to me," Mai said, waving her hands over them and humming before laying a card on the field face down. "And I'll choose again without looking."

"How's she doing that?" Joey mumbled to himself.

"He's losing it," Tea said, worried.

"Guess that mophead wasn't ready for this duel," Tristan muttered.

"Hey, Joey," I said. "Think about what you're doing before you move again,"

"Maybe this one," Joey muttered, picking a card and slapping it down on the field. "Tiger Axe(1300/1100)! My Field Power Bonus should raise its attack power so it can take on the Harpie Lady head to head."

A giant humanoid tiger in battle armor appeared with a roar. (Tiger Axe 1300+390=1690)

"You're not thinking," my brother protested. "It's still resistant to magic!"

"Right," Mai agreed. "Tiger Axe is still another handicapped earth-based monster." The harpie swooped down again and tore the cat to shreds.

**Joey: 1020**

**Mai: 2000**

"It'll take stronger monsters than your land-based wimps to beat my Harpie Lady," Mai said smugly. She placed another face down on the field. "Now I'll play this lovely card without even looking; I'll give you a hint-it's an Equipment Magic card that will help me beat your next card in one turn."

Joey did nothing besides play a monster in defense mode.

"Running scared, huh?" Mai said, looking at the monster. "Well, let me show you my surprise: Cyber Shield, to juice up my Harpie Lady!" She flipped over her face down as metallic armor covered her harpie's body in a flash of light. (Harpie Lady 1690+500=2190)

The harpie cried as she flew down and shredded the monster, destroying it.

"No!" Joey cried as his monster was destroyed. "How's she doing that?!"

"This is so much fun!" Mai laughed; she paused. "Oh, in case you were wondering-the next card you're thinking of isn't going to work either."

"Mai has ESP, that has to be it," Joey muttered. "I'm gonna lose this duel-and the chance to save my sister!"

"This game is mine," Mai said. "You can't win against me."

"She's right, she's too much for me," Joey said, hanging his head.

"Settle down, Joey," I called. "Remember what our Grandpa taught you about how to play Duel Monsters."

"Don't let her rattle you, Joey," Cali warned. "She's just trying to psyche you out!"

"Stay out of this!" Mai snapped at us. "Your brainless cheerleading's not going to help him against the superior power of my Harpie Ladies. Don't you guys get it yet? Friendship doesn't win duels; never will. It hasn't helped him-he's defeated and he knows it."

"Not true," Tea protested.

Mai smirked at her. "No? I beg to differ. There can only be one champion; in this game, on this island, someone can be your best friend today and your worst enemy tomorrow. Once the competition forces you to face each other in a duel, where's your friendship then? That's why the only person a Duelist can trust is himself; I hope your defeat today teaches you that lesson, kid."

"He's losing it!" Tristan gulped, watching Joey clench his hands into fists.

"He needs help," Tea said. She turned to us. "Yugi, Tori, help him!"

* * *

(3rd Person P.O.V.)

Golden light shone around the two, surrounding them. After a second it cleared, revealing them again, looking different than before somehow.

"Don't listen to her, Joey," Yugi said.

"We're here to help you, just like you're always there for us." Tori added.

Joey blinked and looked at them. "Huh?"

"Trust us on this," Yugi said. "She's just trying to divide and conquer, a strategy that's been used for hundreds of years."

"Believe us, we know," Tori said, a golden eye shining on each of their foreheads for the barest second.

"When you guys get those looks in your eyes, I believe anything you say," Joey murmured.

"Do you really think Yugi and Tori want you to be the grand prize winner?!" Mai laughed. "They're Duelists, too, you know. To win you'll eventually you'll have to take one of them on."

"She's right, we will have to duel," Joey said to himself. "We're a team; but I also have to win the tournament for Serenity. What do I do? Maybe Yugi and Tori're right about this thing; I have to stop listening to Mai's nonsense and start using my head." He growled in frustration, closing his eyes. "I just gotta concentrate on how to win the duel!"

He kept his eyes closed for a few minutes; he sniffed the air a few times, a puzzled look coming over his face. Cali frowned at him and did the same.

_Whoa, Mai's wearing a lot of perfume,_ she thought, trying not to gag. She paused. _Wait a minute; that's not just one scent, that's a store's worth of scents! But why would she wear a dozen scents at once. . .?_

"Let's go kid, it's your turn," Mai called impatiently. Joey opened his eyes.

"That's it! I see through your card trick!" He said to Mai. "You sprayed all your cards with different perfumes; and by smelling each different scent, you can tell which card is which even when they're face down, so you don't have to look in order to play your cards. That way you can psyche the other Duelist out!"

_So that's what the perfume's for!_ Cali thought. _That blonde bitch-I bet she won all her duels that way._

"No way! How could an amateur punk like you see through my aroma strategy?!" Mai gasped, completely shocked. "It's just impossible!"

"I gotta admit, Mai, you had me buying into your psychic powers act," Joey said. "I was too freaked out to think things through because of that. But you're not a psychic at all; you're just a big fake!"

"All right, Joey," Yugi smiled. Tori nodded her approval as Cali whooped.

"Go get her, Joey," Tea cheered.

"You the man, Jo!" Tristan added.

"Yugi; you and Tori were right," Joey grinned at them.

"Just because you saw through my little psychic act doesn't mean you'll be able to defeat me in a duel," Mai growled.

"I think you're wrong," Joey countered. "Before you were winning by confusing me and trying to pit me against my friends. Now my mind is clear, and I know who I can trust; all you got left is your cheap tricks, and I won't fall for 'em anymore." He drew a card. "I'm gonna blast your harpies out of the sky with this!"

"Good card, Joey," Tori nodded approvingly.

"Baby Dragon(1200/700)!" Joey slapped the card down on the field; a little orange dragon appeared with a squeaky roar. Mai started laughing.

"That wimpy card is your grand play?!" Mai hooted. "I only wish it was worth more so I could do more damage to your Life Points. My card will be Elegant Egotist." She held up a Spell card. "It's magic will make duplicates of my Harpie Lady."

The harpie glowed brightly; when the light faded, there were three harpies on the field instead of one, one with orange hair, the other with blue.

"Meet Harpie Ladies 1, 2, and 3." She said smugly.

"Oh, no!" Joey paled. "It's three times the trouble!"

"Now what? He was struggling when there was only one," Tea said.

"Don't give in, Joey! You've still got all kinds of moves left!" Tristan encouraged. Tea looked at him.

"Really? What moves would those be?" she asked him.

"How would I know? Ask an expert; ask Yugi and Tori." They looked at the twins.

"It's Joey's duel," Yugi answered a little sharply. "He has to figure it out."

"I don't have any cards strong enough to beat three Harpie Ladies," Joey sighed, looking over his hand.

"And I'm going to keep using the magic of Elegant Egoist to double my Harpies again and again each turn!" Mai laughed. "But while my Harpies multiply, I can't attack you, so it's your move; of course, you'll be up against an army!"

"An army of Harpies; how the heck do I fight an army?!" Joey groaned.

"Don't give up, Joey!" Tori called. Joey looked at her and Yugi.

"Think hard about her strategy," Yugi advised. "She's been using only one monster card and strengthening that one card with lots of Magic cards."

"But there's a serious flaw in her dueling strategy, Joey," Tori said.

"Using magic on one card? That's true," Joey nodded. "She's just been juicing up the Harpie Ladies every turn. But if her deck is mostly Magic cards, then maybe the Harpie Ladies are her only cards. I bet if I defeat her Harpies, she won't have any monster cards left to play!"

"That's right, Joey," Yugi nodded.

"Now think: what card in your deck will help you win?" Tori asked.

"Which of my cards? You tell me," Joey retorted. He blinked, his eyes lighting up in recognition. "The Time Wizard," he murmured to himself. "this is the kind of tight spot they must've been talking about. Now if I can just remember what Gramps taught me about the way to use a Magic card. . .it's my only chance; but do I have it in my hand?" He quickly scanned his cards.

"If I'd known how long it was going to take you to make a move, I would've brought a magazine," Mai yawned.

"The Time Wizard's not in my hand," Joey sighed; he eyed his deck. "I'll have to draw for it; but what if I don't get it?"

_Trust in your cards, Joey,_ Yugi thought. The Puzzle glowed a little.

_Trust in yourself,_ Tori thought. The Disk glowed a bit, too.

_C'mon, Jo,_ Cali thought. She closed her eyes.

"Here I go," Joey reached for the deck. "It's all or nothing." He closed his eyes and snatched the top card off of it. He slowly opened his eyes, then grinned.

"All right!" He cheered, placing it on the field. "It's the Time Wizard(500/400)!" A clock-like monster with a cape and wand appeared.

"What good is that thing?" Mai asked, puzzled.

"Don't you know? My Time Wizard can make time speed up, causing my Baby Dragon to grow into the Thousand Dragon!"

"Right, Joey; and that's not the only effect you Time Wizard will have," Tori chuckled quietly.

The monster raised its wand as it began to glow. "Baby Dragon, transform into Thousand Dragon(2400/200)!" Joey called. The little dragon glowed like the wand for a minute; when the glow faded, a giant, older orange dragon was in its place.

"So now you have a bigger dragon; big deal," Mai snapped dismissively. "My Harpie Ladies still have greater attack power. Attack, my three Harpie sisters!" She almost fell over in shock as she looked at them; the three were much, much older-looking than the dragon, with wrinkled gray skin, and gray and white feathers and hair, their attack points reduced to 1300 each. (A/N How many of you loved this part? I know I did!)

"What? What happened to my Harpie Ladies?! They've gotten so old!" Mai wailed.

Yugi and Tori chuckled together. "We warned you," Tori tsked. "A millennium has passed on the field and your Harpie Ladies have become old and decrepit."

"Face it, Mai," Yugi added. "Time's running out for you and your Ladies."

"I believed! And the cards came through for me!" Joey gasped in surprise before grinning. "Go, Thousand Dragon; attack with Inferno Flame-Breath!" The dragon rose into the sky above the harpies and opened its mouth, spewing flames at the creatures and incinerating them.

**Joey: 1020**

**Mai: 0**

"He did it; Joey won!" Tea cheered.

"I knew you could do it!" Tristan whooped.

"That's our boy!" Cali called, jumping up and down.

"Thanks, guys," Joey said to them before looking at Yugi and Tori. They smiled and each gave him a thumbs-up.

"How? How could I ever lose to such an amateur?" Mai groaned to herself, staring down at her cards.

"Hey, Mai," Joey said. She looked up. "I tried to tell you, there's more to Duel Monsters than kicking the other guy's butt. If you're ever gonna be a champion, you've gotta learn to care about someone-other than yourself. Isn't that right Yugi, Tori?"

He turned to them, and they nodded together before changing back.

_We're proud of you, Joey,_ Yugi thought. _All your hard work and training paid off._

_You went from a guy with nothing but eagerness and attitude to a winning Duelist who battles using his head-and his heart. _Tori added.

* * *

And that's it for this chapter-again I hope you all enjoyed reading this more than I did typing it up-ouch! *winces and wraps fingers in bandages* Anyway, I hope to see you all back here next week for the next featured duel-Mako Tsunami v.s. Yugi Muto! In the meantime, please R+R, and no flames, please.


End file.
